SENSORY GANGLIA. CONSENSUAL ACTIONS. 331 



we have been recently inquiring into, by an impulse which immediately 

 results from a particular sensation being felt, and not by anticipation of the 

 effect which the action will produce. 



429. The highest development of the purely Instinctive tendencies, is to be 

 found in the class of Insects ; and above all in the order Hymcnoptera, and in 

 that of Neuroptera, which is nearly allied to it. It is in this division of the 

 class, that we find the highest development of the sensory organs and of the 

 cephalic ganglia, and the most active powers of locomotion. We may here 

 trace the operations of Instinct, with the least possible interference of Intelli- 

 gence. It is, of course, impossible to draw the line between the two sources 

 of action, with complete precision ; but we observe, in the habits of Bees and 

 other social Insects, every indication of the absence of a power of choice, and 

 of the entire domination of instinctive propensities called into action by sen- 

 sations. Thus, although Bees display the greatest art in the construction of 

 their habitations, and execute a variety of curious contrivances, beautifully 

 adapted to variations in their circumstances, the constancy with which indi- 

 viduals and communities will act alike under the same conditions, appears to 

 preclude the idea of their possessing any inherent power of spontaneously de- 

 parting from the line of action, to which they are tied down by the constitution 

 of their Nervous system. We do not find one individual or one community 

 clever, and another stupid; nor do we ever witness a disagreement, or any 

 appearance of indecision, as to the course of action to be pursued by the 

 several members of any republic.* For a Bee to be destitute of its peculiar 

 tendency to build at certain angles, would be as remarkable as for a Human 

 being to be destitute of the desire to eat, when his system should require 

 food. It may be doubted, on the other hand, whether there was ever a case, 

 in which an Insect of any kind could be taught to recognize any one, who had 

 been in the habit of feeding it; or to show any other unequivocal indications 

 of intelligence. 



a. Such anecdotes have been related of Spiders; but these animals are the highest of the 

 Articulated series, having many points of approach to Vertebrata. It is probable, therefore, 

 that they may possess the rudiment of a Cerebrum ; a similar rudiment making its appear- 

 ance in the higher Cephalopoda, which occupy a corresponding place in the Molluscous 

 series. 



b. The only manifestation of educability, which the Author has ever noticed, during a 

 pretty long familiarity with the habits of Bees, is the acquirement of a power of distinguish- 

 ing the entrance of their hive from that of others around. When a swarm is first placed in 

 a new box, and the Bees have gone forth in search of food, they often seem puzzled on their 

 return, as to which is their own habitation; more especially if there be several hives, with 

 similar entrances, in one bee-house ; and it has been proposed to paint these entrances of 

 different colours, in order to enable the Bee to distinguish them more readily. In a short 

 time, however, even without such aid, the Bees are seen to dart from a considerable height 

 in the air, directly down to their proper entrances ; showing that they have learned to dis- 

 tinguish these, by a memorial power. This the Author has observed most remarkably, in a 

 case in which a hive is placed in the drawing-room of a house, the entrance to it being be- 

 neath one of the windows ; the adjoining houses have windows precisely similar, except in 

 the absence of this small passage; and he has often noticed that, when a new stock has been 

 placed in this hive, the Bees are some days in learning the exact position of their house, con- 

 siderably annoying the neighbours by flying in at their windows. 



The community of Bees, though commonly reputed to be a monarchy, governed by a 

 sovereign, is really a republic, in which every individual performs its own independent part. 

 The function of the queen is simply that of breeding ; and as (among the Hive-Bees at least) 

 she is the only female, the purpose of the instinct, which leads the workers to treat her with 

 peculiar attention, is very obvious. But the idea that she directs the operations of the hive, 

 or exerts any peculiar control over the ordinary Bees, is entirely destitute of foundation. The 

 actions of the latter all tend to one common end ; simply because they are performed in re- 

 spondence to impulses, which all alike share. 



