PACKARD.] MENTAL POWERS OP INSECTS. 379 



ata of Egypt arc domesticated in those countries, and there 

 are two or three other species not domesticated, whose lioney 

 and wax are used by the natives of the countries they in- 

 habit. The Melipona doniestica is said b}- Iluber to be, as 

 its specific name indicates, domesticated by the Mexicans. 

 Huber, in his entertaining paper, figures a long cylindrical 

 clay nest which the natives of Tepic keep hanging up in 

 their houses ; some of these nests are known to be over a 

 century old, so that it seems probable that the bees have for 

 several centuries been in a state of domestication. 



Another trait of much interest Avhich seems to result from 

 its social life is, that the honey bee ventilates its hive by 

 fanning its wings. This may be regarded as a simply in- 

 stinctive process, but it appears to us an unusual act, and 

 one resulting from some degree of ratiocination. 



Many animals are excellent mimics, and it is a question 

 whether the faculty of imitation is not very well developed 

 in social insects. Indeed, were it not for this trait, how 

 could ants and bees act with that unanimity of i)urpose which 

 distinguishes their insect republics, and which is the chief 

 bond of action among them? Were it not for this principle 

 the life of the colony and of the species would soon come to 

 an end. 



After having in an imperfect manner gone over some of 

 the obvious mental traits of the insects, and which seem to 

 our apprehension to be only properly classified as reasoning 

 processes, the question arises whether in performing some of 

 the more unusual feats of mental strength, such, for example, 

 as communicating their ideas to one another, they may not 

 have a dim consciousness of what tliey are doing. To talk 

 of communicating their ideas, without some degree of con- 

 sciousness during the act would seem illogical. Whether 

 insects are wholly dominated by an unconscious intelligence 

 I leave for others better qualified than myself to judge ; 

 meanwhile one in view of known psychological facts cannot 



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