INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 50/ 



of the hive, of that particular instinct out of so many 

 which the good of the community requires? No think- 

 ing- man ever witnesses the complexness and yet regu- 

 larity and efficiency of a great establishment, such as 

 the Bank of England, or the Post-office, without mar- 

 velling that even human reason can put together with 

 so little friction and such slight deviations from cor- 

 rectness, machines whose wheels qtre composed not of 

 wood and iron, but of fickle mortals of a thousand dif- 

 ferent inclinations, powers, and capacities. But if such 

 establishments be surprising even with reason for their 

 prime mover, how much more so is a hive of bees whose 

 proceedings are guided by their instincts alone I We 

 can conceive that the sensations of hunger experienced 

 on awaking- in the morning should excite into action 

 their instinct of gathering honey. But all are hungry : 

 yet all do not rush out in search of flowers. What 

 sensation is it that detains a portion of the hive at home, 

 unmindful of the gnawings of an empty stomach, busied 

 in domestic arrangements, until the return of their 

 roving- companions ? Of those that fly abroad, what 

 conception can we form of the cause which, while one 

 set is gathering honey or pollen, leads another com- 

 pany to load their legs with pellets of propolis ? Are 

 we to say that the instinct of the former is excited bv 

 one sensation, that of the latter by another? But why 

 should one sensation predominate in one set of bees, 

 while another takes the lead in a second ? — or how is 

 it that these different instincts are called up precisely 

 in the degree which the actual and changing- state of 

 things in the hive requires ? — Of those which remain 

 at home, what is it that determines in one party the 



