88 OF INTELLIGENCE AND INSTINCT. 



more suitable for the purpose. But the bee requires no in- 

 structions in building her comb. She selects at once the fittest 

 materials, and employs them with the greatest economy ; and 

 the young bee exhibits, in this respect, as much discernment 

 as those who have had the benefit of long experience. She 

 performs her task without previous study, and, to all appear- 

 ance, without the consciousness of its utility, being in some 

 sense impelled to it by a blind impulse. 



193. If, however, we judge of the instinctive acts of animals, 

 when compared with the acts of intelligence, by the relative 

 perfection of their products, we may be led into gross errors, 

 as a single example will show. No one will deny that the 

 honey-comb is constructed with more art and care than the 

 huts of many tribes of men. And yet, who would presume 

 to conclude from this, that the bee is superior in intelligence 

 to the inhabitant of the desert or of the primitive forest ? It 

 is evident, on the contrary, that in this particular case we are 

 not to judge of the artisan by his work. As a work of man, a 

 structure as perfect in all respects as the honey-comb would 

 indicate very complicated mental operations, and probably 

 would require numerous preliminary experiments. 



194. The instinctive actions of animals relate either to 

 the procuring of food, or to the rearing of their young ; in 

 other words, they have for their end the preservation of the 

 individual and of the species. It is by instinct that the leopard 

 conceals himself, and awaits the approach of his prey. It is 

 equally by instinct that the spider spreads his web to entangle 

 the flies which approach it. 



195. Some animals go beyond these immediate precau- 

 tions ; their instinct leads them to make provision for the 

 future. Thus the squirrel lays in his store of nuts and acorns 

 during autumn, and deposits them in cavities of trees, which 

 he readily finds again in winter. The hamster digs, by the 

 side of his burrow, compartments for magazines, which he 

 arranges with much art. Finally, the bee, more than any 

 other animal, labours in view of the future ; and she has 

 become the emblem of order and domestic economy. 



196. Instinct exhibits itself, in a no less striking manner, 

 in the anxiety which animals manifest for the welfare of their 

 anticipated progeny. All birds build nests for the shelter and 

 nurture of their young, and in some cases these nests are 



