Antennae

a pair of feeling organs peculiar to insects, crayfish, and closely related animals. They are usually threadlike or club-shaped, and are inserted between, or in front of, the eyes by a ball and socket joint. They are moved by small muscles at the base within the head. The antennae of some insects are simple; others are branched; some are straight; some curved. Insects use their antennae for many purposes. A nerve from the brain extends through the antenna to its tip, making this organ as sensitive as the eye, ear, or the tongue of ordinary animals. Ants seem to communicate with each other by rubbing their antennae together. The honey bee works in the dark, making its cells of exactly the right size and shape, its only guide being measurements made by the antennae, just as a sculptor molds his model with the aid of his finger tips. It is now well understood that many insects not only feel, but hear and smell, and are sensitive to light by means of these wonderful organs. If a bee loses a leg or a wing, it doesn't seem particularly distressed; but when its antennae are cut off, it is dazed and stupefied as though a part of its brain had been removed. It has been found that if an eye of a crayfish is cut off from its stalk, an antenna frequently develops in its place. If an antenna is removed from the head of a crayfish, an antenna, not an eye, regenerates in place of the old one. See Insects