Since tlie discovery by Xnnicli ( '21) of the sensitivity of the legs of Lepidoptera to sugar, the preseiice of tarsal chemoreceptors has been demonstyated in numerous insects, and a considerable amount of physiological iiiformatioii concerning them has been obtained (for reviews see Dethier and Chadwick, '48 and Friiigs and Fring-s, '49). Homever, studies of the identity of these structures have lagged considerably behind the pliysiol~ogical iiivestigations so that, as f a r as the authors a r e aware, no unequivocal correlation of a tarsal seiisillum with a chemoreceptive fuiiction bas been made.Only a few reports of histological studies of tarsal seiisilla in general occur in tlie literatiire. Mcliiiloo's ( '16'34) "olfactory pores" (campaiiifoim seiisilla) have been shown to be proprioceptors (Pringle, '%a, '38b). Eltringham ( '33) described on the butterfly P~~lrrrnteis afalmatii L., and Hayes and Liu ( '47) on iVusca doiiiestica L., thin-walled tarsal hairs mliich were associated with groups of sense cells and were, therefore, coiisidered to be chemoreceptors. Iiinervated hairs containing a large eccentricallp located cavity and a smaller cavity in the heavy portion o f tlic wall were found 011 the tarsi and proboscis of the fly Calliphorcr ergth rocephala Meigeii by Tinbergen ('39) who postulated on the basis of the structure aiid distributioii of these seiisilla that they were chemoreceptors.National Science Foundation Fellow.

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