ABSTRACT
Sensory control mechanisms are one of the many structural and functional specializations which play an important role in determining the flight ability of an insect. Sense organs are components of feedback systems which ensure the performance of certain tasks irrespective of varying circumstances. Since flight consists of many subtasks subject to possible disturbance, there are necessarily many feedback circuits controlling their performance. Insects fly in order to change their location: either to vacate an unfavorable place without having a specific destination or to arrive at a particular destination. In each case, sense organs are necessary either to trigger a successful escape or to guide the animal into the correct direction and signal the arrival at a desired place. Accoustic stimulation may also trigger flight movements. G. S. Boyan has studied the central connections between auditory sense organs and the flight system in locusts.
