ABSTRACT
Several authors have reported on electrical activities of antennae of insects in response to various olfactory stimuli (Boistel, 1953; Roys, 1954; Boistel, Lecomte & Corabœuf, 1956; Schneider & Hecker, 1956; Schneider, 1957). Dethier (1941) studied the sensilla of the antenna of lepidoptera larvae, and assumed that the ‘large’ sensilla basiconica were olfactory organs.
One of the authors (Morita, 1959) recorded slow potentials directly related to occurrence of impulses (i.e. receptor potentials) from the side wall of the contact chemosensory hair on the labellum of the blow-fly, Calliphora vomitoria. The ‘large’ sensilla basiconica on the antennae of lepidoptera larvae are far smaller than the labellar chemosensory hair, but not so small as to prevent application of the method available for the labellar hair. In the present study, using this method, electrical activities of the sensillum basiconicum of the silkworm larva were qualitatively analysed.
