INSTINCT 157 



homeward to a pinpoint over the horizon, laden with rich 

 treasure, agitated by the success of the search, naturally and 

 easily orienting to an invisible sun, fully the master of the 

 mathematics of navigation and the conversion of angles to 

 the vertical, to receive the excited attention of the multitude 

 and to orive and tell of the treasure in an abandon of altru- 

 ism? The answer is that I don't know, but it will never be 

 possible for me to believe that there is no degree of pleasure 

 here for this lowly scout bee and no consciousness of a job 

 superbly done in the service of its fellows. The honeybee 

 uses a real abstraction when she indicates a direction by rela- 

 tion; and this abstraction is apparently a symbol, just as the 

 word "bee" is our symbol for this brilliant little animal. It is 

 one of the few, if not the only, undisputed cases of an ani- 

 mal other than man being able to communicate an abstrac- 

 tion such as direction or distance. The bee, then, is capable 

 of behavior which psychologists describe as concept forma- 

 tion and in which man excels above all other animals. This 

 characteristic of high-level mind will be discussed in the 

 next chapter, where it will be important to remind ourselves 

 that even in the immensely complex symbolizing process of 

 human thinking, man is not absolutely unique. 



