382 HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 



obscure but still more curious one of A-arnishing them with 

 the 3'ellow tinge observable in old combs; — seem clearly 

 referable to at least two distinct instincts. 



"In their out-of-door operations, several distinct instincts 

 are concerned. By one they are led to extract honey from 

 the nectaries of flowers, by another to collect pollen after a 

 process involving very complicated manipulations, and requir- 

 ing a singular apparatus of brushes and baskets ; and that 

 must surely be considered a third, which so remarkably and 

 beneficially restricts each gathering to the same plant. It 

 is clearly a distinct instinct which inspires bees with such a 

 dread of rain, that even if a cloud pass before the sun, they 

 return to the hive in the greatest haste ; and that seems to 

 me not less so, which teaches them to find their way back to 

 their home after the most distant and intricate wanderings. 



"When they have reached the hive, another instinct leads 

 them to regurgitate into the extended proboscis of their 

 hungry companions who have been occupied at home, a por- 

 tion of the honey collected in the fields ; and another directs 

 them to unload their legs of the masses of pollen, and to 

 store it in the cells for future use. 



"Several distinct instincts, again, are called into action in 

 the important business of feeding the young brood. One 

 teaches them to swallow pollen, not to satisfy the calls of 

 hunger, but that it may undergo in their stomach an elabor- 

 ation fitting it for the food of the grubs ; and another to 

 regurgitate it when duly concocted, and to administer it to 

 their charge, proportioning the supply to the age and condi- 

 tion of the recipients ; a third informs them when the young 

 grubs have attained their full growth, and directs them to 

 cover their cells with a waxen lid, convex in the male cells, 

 but nearly flat in those of the workers ; and by a fourth, as 

 soon as the young bees have burst into day, they are im- 

 pelled to clean out the deserted tenements and to make them 

 ready for new occupants. 



30 



