AFFECT/ON FOR THE YOUNG. 531 



the hive, she is contented with her fate. But as soon as by the 

 death of the queen this prospect is obstructed, by there being no possi- 

 bility of obtaining a new queen, she becomes depressed, without 

 courage, ceases her work, and is lost in the conviction of having lost 

 her labours. We cannot here relate in detail the several phases 

 and very special facts which exhibit the comprehensiveness of her 

 instinct, and they are the less necessary as other works fully show 

 them ; we therefore refer to the Introduction of Kirby and Spence, as 

 well as to the admirable work of Huber *. As willingly as we could wish 

 to refer the actions of the neuter bees to reflective powers, we yet feel 

 ourselves obliged to deny them this reasoning ; they act rather from 

 eternal invariable laws, for they have added nothing to it in so many 

 thousand generations, nor have they lost anything, which therefore 

 announces their want of freedom, as well as the other side the endless 

 wisdom of nature is clearly exhibited in the consistency and suitable- 

 ness of all their proceedings. They are but the wheels and instru- 

 ments in a higher hand, imperceptible to us, and still more so to them, 

 which holds the universe ; and to which science must always refer, but 

 which is depicted to the fancy in a beautiful and attractive image. What 

 Johan von Muller f has expressed to be the result of his researches 

 into the history of the human race we may apply to the life of bees, to 

 the actions of the rest of the world of insects, and indeed to the great 

 effects of organic nature in general. The whole is an infinite machine, 

 to whose eternal motion every individual, be it plant, animal, or man, 

 must contribute, and he who of all that can obey this law is wantonly 

 deaf he is judged. 



299. 



There are two orders, namely, the Neuroptera and Dictyoloptera, to 

 whose care for their young we have as yet paid no attention, and to 

 which we now therefore proceed. Among the first, the young larvae 

 of the Semblodea and Phryganea live in water, and without any 

 especial care on the part of the mother, are confided to this element. 

 We are still ignorant of where the eggs and larvae of the Panorpa are 

 to be found, for their larvae are as yet unknown. The larvae of 



* F. Huber, Nouvelles Observations stir les Abeilles; addressees a M. C. Bonnet. 

 Geneve, 1792. 8vo. Nouvelles Observ. SUT les Ab. Paris et Geneve, 1814. 8vo. 

 2 vnls. 



f Vier \md Zwanzig Biieher Allgemeiner Geschirhte, vol. iii. p. 532. 



M M 2 



