5(^ INSTINCT OP INSECTS. 



city, or the cells and combs, there are probably severnl 

 distinct instincts exercised ; but not to leave room for 

 objection, I shall regard them as the resultof one only : 

 yet the operations of polishing the interior of the ceii'^, 

 and soldering their angles and orifices with propoli-. 

 which are sometimes not undertaken for weeks after tl.c 

 cells are built ''; and the obscure but still more curior.>. 

 one of varnishing them with the yellow tinge observable 

 in old combs ; — seem clearly referable to at least tw& 

 distinct instincts. The varnishing process is so little 

 connected with that of building, that, though it takes 

 place in some combs in three or four days, it does net 

 in others for several months, though both are equally 

 employed for the same uses'*. Huber ascertained by 

 accurate experiment that this tinge is not owing to th^ 

 heat of the hives; to any vapours in the air which they 

 include ; to any emanations from the wax or honey : 

 nor to the deposition of this last in the cells ; but he ic- 

 clines to think it is occasioned by a yellow matter which 

 the bees seem to detach from their mandibles, and io 

 apply to the surface which they are varnishing, by re- 

 peated strokes of these organs and of the fore feef^. 



In their out-of-door operations several distinct in* 

 stincts are concerned. By one they are led to extract 

 honey from the nectaries of flowers ; by another to col- 

 lect pollen after a process involving very complicated 

 manipulations, and requiring a singular apparatus of 

 brushes and baskets ; and that must surely be consi- 

 dered a third, which so remarkably and beneficially 

 restricts each gathering to the same plant •'. It is clearly 



• Huber, ii. 264—. Vol. 1. 2d Ed. 500. " Ilubcr, ii. 'SA. 



■^ Hubci, 2iJ— • Sec above, p, !Sr>. 



