THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 415 



strange situation the larvae had travelled several miles, and 

 on reaching me they were still alive. How long they had 

 been immersed I cannot say, but on being extricated from 

 their imprisonment they completed their full growth upon 

 fuchsia-leaves; and the two moths are now in my cabinet, 

 proving that a short immersion is not always fatal. — G. B. 

 Corbin. 



Do Insects recognize Individuals ? — Do you think that 

 insects know individuals? I verily believe they do; and I 

 give you my reason for coming to such a conclusion. I was 

 lately in the neighbourhood of Gainsborough, in Lincoln- 

 shire, collecting. I was staying at the house of a small 

 farmer : this person had in his garden thirteen hives. In 

 some of my rambles Mr. Hurry, the owner, went with me, 

 and, to my surprise, I noticed bees came and settled upon his 

 hands and face, and about his coat. When I called his 

 attention to this novel conduct of the bees, he said : — " They 

 are my bees ; they know me very well." At this time we 

 were two miles from his house and garden. 1 saw the same 

 thing occur a second day, and told the two gentlemen that 

 were with me, W. Cook and F. Marshall ; and as it was 

 repeated several times the other collectors witnessed it for 

 themselves. I think all three of us cannot well be mistaken : 

 they never settled on either of us, or took the least notice, 

 although the ground was swarming with bees. The spot 

 where this occurred is a beautiful heath, called Loughton 

 Common. I have just stated the facts as they occurred, and 

 made no comment, yet I thought some of your readers may 

 have noticed similar occurrences. 1 do not recollect this 

 principle of recognition being mentioned by Kirby and 

 Spence, although they give very elaborate comments respect- 

 ing the instinct, habits, and general movements of the bee. 

 Now, supposing those statements to be correct, can we doubt 

 that the same degree of intelligence may be met with in other 

 insects. I do not think we have any reason to doubt it. — 

 John Foils; 79, Spring Gardens, Doncasler. 



[In Kirby and Spence are several passages that support 

 Mr. Potts' statement, although perhaps they do not stale the 

 fact precisely in the same way : thus we find in vol. ii. p. 199, 

 of the 1828 edition, that the writer's bees did not usually 

 attack himselfj but did so on one occasion. This seems to 



