362 HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 



a large tree, in which there had been, as long as he could 

 remember, a society of birds, and another of bees, living 

 together in the greatest amity ; for if an}' strange birds 

 molested the bees, the birds on the spot drove them off 

 in a body ; and if strange bees came near the birds' nests, 

 the native bees attacked them and stung them to death. 

 The family of the owner, he said, had so much regard for 

 the harmonious colonies, that they considered the tree 

 sacred." 



Aside from mere physical stimulation, such as the recep- 

 tion and appreciation of sounds, smells and changes from 

 light to darkness, to which nearly all insects are subject, 

 close observers have told us that insects sometimes give 

 every appearance of being subject to the passions. Tiiey 

 not only have strong reproductive instincts, but undoubtedly 

 a hungry tiger beetle is a very cross creature, a maddened 

 ant is a terror to a barefoot boy who treads carelessly on 

 its hill, and a terrified or angry humble bee buzzes with an 

 intensit}' that proves that it has suffered a considerable shock 

 to its feelings. That bees do become angry is indicated 

 by a different pitch to their hum. "Landois, calculating 

 the rapidit}' of the vibrations by the sound produced thereby, 

 states that the fly, which produces the sound of F, vibrates 

 its wings 352 times a second, and the bee, which makes the 

 sound of A', 440 times a second." On the contrary a tired 

 bee hums on E', and therefore vibrates its wing only 330 

 times in a second. This difference is probably involuntary, 

 but the change of 'tone' is evidently under the command of 

 the will, and thus offers another point of similarity to a true 

 'voice.' A bee in the pui'suit of honey hums continually 

 and contentedly on A', but if it is excited or angry it pro- 

 duces a very different note. Thus, then, the sounds of in- 

 sects do not merel}' serve to bring the sexes together ; they 

 are not merely ' love songs ' but also serve, like au}^ true lan- 

 guage, to express the feelings." (Sir John Lubbock's address 



10 



