466 INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 



rally evident. We may explain in this way the instincts 

 connected with hunger and the sexual passion, and some 

 other particular facts, as the laying of the eggs of the 

 flesh-fly in the flowers of Stapelia hirsiita, instead of in 

 carrion their proper nidus, and of those of the common 

 house-fly in snuff"^ instead of dung; for in these instances 

 the smell seems so clearly the guide, that it even leads 

 into error. But what connexion between sensation and 

 instinct do we see in the conduct of the working-bees, 

 which fabricate some of the cells in a comb larger than 

 others, expressly to contain the eggs and future grubs 

 of drones, though these eggs are not laid by themselves, 

 and are still in the ovaries of the queen ? So we may 

 plausibly enough conjecture that the fury with which, in 

 ordinary circumstances, at a certain period of the year, 

 the working-bees are inspired towards the drones, is the 

 effect of some disagreeable smell or emanation proceeding 

 from them at that particular time : but how can we ex- 

 plain, on similar grounds, the fact that in a hive deprived 

 of a queen, no massacre of the drones takes place ? 

 Lastly, to omit here a hundred other instances, as many 

 of them will be subsequently adverted to, if we may with 

 some show of reason suppose that it is the sensation of 

 heat which causes bees to swarm; yet what possible con- 

 ception can we foi'm of its being bodily sensations that 

 lead bees to send out scouts in search of a hive suitable 

 for the new colony, sevei-al days before swarming ? 

 After these observations on the nature of instinct, 



* Dr. Zinken gcnannt Sonimer says, that if in August and Sep- 

 tember a snuff-box be left open, it will be seen to be frequented by 

 the common house-fly {Musca domcstlca), the eggs of which will be 

 found tobave been deposited amongst the snuff. Germar Mag. der 

 Ent: I. ii. 1S9. 



