502 PSYCHOLOGICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



rades, a new dwelling, supposing that the preceding one has been lost 

 in the interim*. Kirby and Spence relate another still more striking 

 instance of the memory of these creatures, in which a swarm from an 

 old hive occupied a hole in the roof of a house, but were again removed 

 by its possessor. Every year the envoys of the new swarms of the same 

 hive regularly returned to this hole to convince themselves of its 

 existence and suitableness, certainly a distinct proof of the remem- 

 brance of the discovered place among the older members of the hive. 

 There are many instances of the memory of insects, which all, more or 

 less, prove it to be a quality of their instinct. Thus, the Odyneri, 

 which have found a hole for the dwelling-place of their young, con- 

 stantly return back exactly to it when they quit it to fetch the young 

 ones' provisions. If it be closed during their absence, on their return 

 they seek about upon the wall, yet without entering other holes ; if 

 they again find it, they remove the obstacles and pursue their previous 

 labours. 



But the power of communicating to their comrades what they 

 purpose is peculiar to insects. Much has been talked of the so-called 

 signs of recognition in bees, which is said to consist in recognising their 

 comrades of the same hive by means of peculiar signs. This sign serves 

 to prevent any strange bee from intruding into the same hive without 

 being immediately detected and killed. It however sometimes happens 

 that several hives have the same signs, when their several members rob 

 each other with impunity. In these cases the bees whose hive suffers 

 most alter their signs, and then can immediately detect the enemy. 

 But in what these signs consist is not known. The wasps also apprise 

 their comrades of the place whence they fetch the materials of their 

 nests, whence it happens that some always fetch the same material, for 

 example, rotten wood ; others a different material ; and others, again, 

 coloured substances. The ants, also, can inform their own citizens of 

 the presence of a choice morsel, for Kirby and Spence relate an instance 

 where a pot filled with treacle was suspended from a ceiling, and which 

 being discovered by one, she fetched a whole host of her comrades. In 

 places distant from their abode, ants touch each other with their 

 antennae, so to recognise their friends and enemies, and, after having 

 satisfied themselves, they pursue their journey. A remarkable instance 

 of such a communication is related in Illiger's Magazine ^, in which a 



* Kirby and Spence, Introduction, vol. ii. p. 590. 

 f- fiermar's Mag:iz.in, vol. iii. p. 425. \ Vol. i. p. 488. 



