550 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



known, every one of the students, is heartily 

 in favor of the new system. Not a single 

 disorder has occurred in college during the 

 year. Even the freshmen, to burn their 

 celebration bonfire, did not steal any one's 

 fence, nor tear down any one's barn, but 

 bought their materials and had an honest fire 

 on the campus. A spirit of manliness and 

 self-reliance has become prevalent to a degree 

 which was utterly unknown when the stu- 

 dents were under the parental system, and 

 were inclined to regard the faculty as their 

 natural enemies. About a fortnight asro the 

 faculty made a thorough investigation into 

 the scholarship in all departments, in order 

 to compare the efficiency of the course now 

 with what it was under the old method of 

 discipline and working. It was found that 

 the new way is better than the old by far, and 

 that the scholarship of the students is better 

 than formerly. This is not attributed to any 

 higher average in the general ability of the 

 young men, but solely to the stimulus which 

 comes from the college atmosphere. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES, 

 NO. XLII. 



Ants, Bees, and Wasps. A Record of Ob- 

 servations on the Habits of the Social 

 Hymenoptera. With Illustrations and 

 Colored Plates. By Sir John Lubbock, 

 Bart., M. P., F. E. S., etc. D. Appleton 

 k Co. Pp. 44S. Price, $2. 



When, some ten years ago, the author of 

 this work was solicited to contribute a vol- 

 ume to the " International Scientific Series," 

 he cordially consented, on the condition that 

 he might take his time. Nothing could 

 be more reasonable, for Sir John is a very 

 busy man, and occupied by many duties. 

 But, now that his book has appeared, the 

 surprise is that he should have done it so 

 quickly. The most expeditious way of pro- 

 ducing a book is, of course, with the scis- 

 sors ; the next is with the pen, where the 

 work is spun from the fancy ; but the slow- 

 est method is where the author strikes into 

 original inquiry, which involves long-contin- 

 ued observation and experiment before he 

 can bring the subject into shape for literary 

 presentation. It is in this sense that Sir 

 John Lubbock has made the present work. 

 How it has originated, and what is its ob- 

 ject, are thus stated in the preface : " This 



volume contains the record of various ex- 

 periments made with ants, bees, and wasps, 

 during the past ten years. Other occupa- 

 tions, and many interruptions, political and 

 professional, have prevented me from mak- 

 ing them as full and complete as I had 

 hoped. My parliamentary duties in par- 

 ticular have absorbed most of my time just 

 at the season of year when these insects can 

 be most profitably studied. I have, there- 

 fore, whenever it seemed necessary, careful- 

 ly recorded the month during which the 

 observations were made, for the instincts 

 and behavior of ants, bees, and wasps are 

 by no means the same throughout the year. 

 My object has been, not so much to describe 

 the usual habits of these insects, as to test 

 their mental conditions and powers of sense.'' 



The work has, therefore, a twofold inter- 

 est. In the first place, it is a contribu- 

 tion to comparative psychology; a subject 

 which requires much more cautious and dis- 

 criminating study than it has formerly re- 

 ceived. The insects to which Sir John Lub- 

 bock has devoted himself exhibit remark- 

 able mental traits, but it is by no means 

 so easy a thing to interpret them rightly. 

 Much, of course, was critically and accu- 

 rately known of their habits and characters 

 before our author took up the inquiry, as 

 his copious bibliography and numerous cita- 

 tions show ; but there was also so much 

 loose and exaggerated statement in the pop- 

 ular natural history of these creatures, and 

 so much serious deficiency in their scientific 

 study, that a close and systematic re-exam- 

 ination of the phenomena was necessary. 

 Sir John devised various ingenious methods 

 of dealing with his insects, and by taking 

 the ample time necessary to educate him- 

 self in their manipulation, and in getting 

 familiarly acquainted with their ways, he 

 has been enabled to qualify many previous 

 opinions respecting their intelligence, and 

 very much to extend our accurate knowledge 

 upon the subject. 



But while the problems which Sir John 

 Lubbock had here to solve were those of 

 comparative psychology, they have another 

 interesting aspect. The insects being gre- 

 garious and eminently social, all their men- 

 tal manifestations were in social relation, so 

 that the inquiry ran inevitably into compar- 

 ative sociology. It is this fact which gives 



