Respiratory Movements of Insects

Abstract

MR. NICHOLSON has hit upon an interesting inquiry, and will probably not be surprised to find that it has already received a good deal of attention. The respiratory movements of insects were experimentally investigated by the late Prof. Felix Plateau, of Ghent (“Recherches Expérimentales sur les Mouvements Respiratoires des Insectes,” Mém. Acad. Roy. de Belgique, tome xlv., 1884), who contributed a short summary of his results to Miail and Denny's “Cockroach” (pp. 159–64). Respiratory movements can be demonstrated in dipterous flies, but in them the enlarged thorax is alternately contracted in different directions by the action of two sets of muscles, which are figured in Miall and Hammond's “Harlequin Fly,” (pp 100–102). Far more space than NATURE could grant would be required to discuss the mechanism of respiration in different insects. I do not recollect that any notable progress has been made with the inquiry during the last thirty years, and a new observer would find that much remains to be discovered; it is, however, indispensable that he should employ precise methods of investigation.