ON THE ECONOMY OF BEES. £55 • 



but in the dog it exists to a wonderful extent ; and the off- Remarkable 



. iv • j effects of here- 



spring appears to inherit not only the passions and propen- dltary hab j t in 



sities, but even the resentments, of the family from which dogs. 

 it springs. I ascertained by repeated experiment, that a 

 terrier, whose parents had been in the habit of fighting with 

 polecats, will instantly show every mark of anger, when he; 

 first perceives the scent of that animal ; though the animal 

 itself be wholly concealed from his sight. A young spaniel 

 brought up with the terriers showed no marks whatever of 

 emotion at the scent of the polecat ; but it pursued a wood- 

 cock, the first time it saw one, with clamour and exulta- 

 tion : and a young pointer, which I am certain had never 

 seen a partridge, stood trembling with anxiety, its eyes fix- 

 ed, and its muscles rigid, when conducted into the midst of 

 a covey of those birds. Yet each of these dogs is a mere 

 variety of the same species ; and to that species none of these 

 habits are given by nature. The peculiarities of character 

 can therefore be traced to no other source than the acquired 

 habits of the parents, which are inherited by the offspring, 

 and become what I shall call instinctive hereditary propen- 

 sities. These propensities, or modifications of the natural These habits 



instinctive powers of animals, are capable of endless varia- altered and 

 ii 11 i'ii. i modified by 



tion and change; and hence their habits soon become circumstances. 



adapted to different countries and different states of domes- 

 tication, the acquired habits of the parents being transferred 

 hereditarily to the offspring. Bees, like other animals, are 

 probably susceptible of these changes of habit, and thence, 

 when accustomed through many generations to the hive, in 

 a country which does not afford hollow trees, or other habi- 

 tations adapted to their purpose, they may become more 

 dependent on man, and rely on his care wholly for a habi- * 



tation ; but in situations where the cavities of trees present 

 to them the means of providing for themselves, I have found, 

 that they will discover such trees in the closest recesses of 

 the woods, and at an extraordinary distance from their hives; 

 and that they will keep possession of such cavities in the 

 manner I have stated : and I am confident that, under such Bees never mi- 

 circumstances, a swarm never issues from the parent hive, grate ta J the y 



. r have selected a 



without having previously selected some such place to retire habitation. 



to. 



It 



