INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 511 



sures; so that reason taught by experience, seems to 

 have called into action their dormant instinct*. 



If it be thus probable that reason has some influence 

 upon the actions of insects, which must be mainly re- 

 garded as instinctive, the existence of this faculty is still 

 more evident in numerous traits of their history where 

 instinct is little if at all concerned. An insect is taught 

 by its instincts the most unerring means to the attain- 

 ment of certain ends ; but these ends, as I have already 

 had occasion more than once to remark, are limited in 

 number, and such only as are called for by its wants in 

 a state of nature. We cannot reasonably suppose insects 

 to be gifted with instincts adapted for occasions that are 

 never likely to happen. If therefore we find them, in 

 these extraordinary and improbable emergencies, still 

 availing themselves of the means apparently best calcu- 

 lated for ensuring their object ; — and if in addition they 

 seem in some cases to gain knowledge by experience ; if 

 they can communicate information to each other; and if 

 they are endowed with memory. — it appears impossible 

 to deny that they are possessed of reason. — I shall now 

 produce facts in proof of each of these positions ; not 

 by any means all that might be adduced, but a few of 

 the most striking that occur to me. 



First, then, insects often in cases not likely to be pro- 

 vided for by instinct, adopt means evidently designed for 

 effecting their object. 



A certain degree of warmth is necessary to hatch a 

 hen's eggs, and we give her little credit for reason in 

 sitting upon them for this purpose. But if any one had 

 » Huber, ii. 289—. 



