Reflections upon Insect Psychology- 

 memory of the stomach that once digested 

 them? But digestion took place a year ago; 

 and, since that distant epoch, the nurseling, 

 now an adult insect, has changed its shape, its 

 dwelling, its mode of life. It was a grub; it 

 is a Bee. Does the actual insect remember 

 that childhood's meal? No more than we re- 

 member the sups of milk drawn from our mo- 

 ther's breast. The Bee, therefore, knows no- 

 thing of the quantity of provisions needed by 

 her larva, whether from memory, from ex- 

 ample or from acquired experience. Then 

 what guides her when she makes her estimate 

 with such precision? Judgment and sight 

 would leave the mother greatly perplexed, 

 liable to provide too much or not enough. To 

 instruct her beyond the possibility of a mi- 

 stake demands a special tendency, an uncon- 

 scious impulse, an instinct, an inword voice 

 that dictates the measure to be apportioned. 



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