498 INSTIXCT OF INSECTS. 



The second head under which I proposed contrast- 

 ing the instincts of insects with those of the larger ani- 

 mals, was that of their number in the same individual. 

 — In the latter this is for the most part very limited, 

 not exceeding (if we omit those common to almost all 

 animated beings) eight or ten distinct instincts. Thus 

 in the common duck, one instinct leads it at its birth 

 from the egg to rush to the water ; another to seek its 

 proper food ; a third to pair with its mate ; a fourth to 

 form a nest ; a fifth to sit upon its eggs till hatched ; a 

 sixth to assist the young ducklings in extricating them- 

 selves from the shell ; and a seventh to defend them 

 when in danger until able to provide for themselves : 

 and it would not be easy, as far as my knowledge ex- 

 tends, to add many more distinct instinctive actions 

 to the enumeration, or to adduce many species of the 

 superior classes of animals, endowed with a greater 

 number. 



But how vastly more manifold are the instincts of the 

 majority of insects ! It is not necessary to insist upon 

 those differences which take place in the same insect in 

 its different states, leading it to select one kind of food 

 in the larva, and another in the perfect state ; to defend 

 itself in one mode in the former, and in another in the 

 latter, &c. — because, however remarkable these varia- 

 tions, they may be referred with great plausibility to 

 those striking changes in the organic structure of the 

 animal, which occur at the two periods of its existence. 

 It is to the number of instincts observable in the same 

 individual of many insects in their perfect state that I 

 now confine myself; and as the most striking example 

 of the Avhole I shall select the hive-bee, — begging you 



