2 7" 8 INSTINCT OF WASPS. 



tree, to secure their young from the attacks of that 

 animal. In a part of Siam which is subject to inun- 

 dations, the ants form their settlements on trees : no 

 ants' nests are to be seen anywhere else. 



Thus it appears that instinct is an unerring guide, 

 teaching her pupils just as much as is necessary for 

 them to know ; and likewise an impartial one, for she 

 bestows her gifts equally on all the individuals of the 

 same species. How different from the genius and in- 

 telligence of the human race ! amongst whom such 

 minds as those of Newton, Locke, Columbus, &c. ex- 

 alt their possessors so much above their fellows, that 

 they are like a superior race. But a few more re- 

 markable instances of this impulse will render my let- 

 ter more worthy your acceptance. 



Wasps are said to catch large spiders, and finding 

 their long legs an impediment, cut them off, and after- 

 Avards carry their mutilated bodies that can no longer es- 

 cape, to their young. Dr. Darwin relates, that he saw 

 a wasp on a gravel- walk, that had caught a fly nearly 

 as large as himself: he separated the tail and the 

 head from that part of the body to which the wings 

 were attached : after this operation, he took the body- 

 part in his paws, and rose about two feet from the 

 ground. A gentle breeze wafting the wings of the fly, 

 turned him round in the air, and he settled again with 

 his prey upon the gravel. He then cut off with his 

 mouth, first one of the wings, and then the other ; 



