On the OEconomy of Bees. 109 



appears to inherit not only the passions and propensities, 

 but even the resentments, of the family from which it 

 springs. I ascertained, by repeated experiment, that a ter- 

 rier, whose parents had been in the habit of fighting with 

 polecats, will instantly show every mark of anger when he 

 first perceives the scent of that animal, though the animal 

 itself be wholly concealed from his sight. A young spaniel 

 brought lip with the terriers showed no marks whatever of 

 emotion at the scent of the polecat ; but it pursued- a wood- 

 cock, the first time it saw one, with clamour and exultation : 

 and a young pointer, which I am certain -^lad never seen a 

 partridge, stood trembling with anxiety, its eyes fixed and its 

 muscles rigid, when conducted into the midst of a covey of 

 those birds. Yet each of these dogs are mere varieties of 

 the same species ; and to that species none of these habits 

 are given by nature. The peculiarities of character can there- 

 jbre be traced to no other source than the acquired habits of 

 the parents, which are inherited by the offspring, and be- 

 eome what I shall call instinctive hereditary propensities. 

 These propensities, or modifications of the natural instinc- 

 tive powers of animals, are capable of endless variation and 

 change; and hence their habits soon become adapted to dif- 

 ferent countries and different states of domestication, the 

 acquired habits of the parents being transferred hereditarily 

 to ihe offspring. Bees, like other animals, are probably 

 susceptible of these changes of habit; and thence, when ac- 

 customed through many generations to the hive, in a coun- 

 try which does not afford hollow trees, or other habitations 

 adapted to their purpose, they may become more dependent 

 on man, and rely on his care wholly for an habitation ; but 

 in situations where the cavities of trees present to them 

 the means of providing for themselves, I have found that 

 they will discover such trees in the closest recesses of the 

 woods, and at an c.Mraordinary distance from their hives ; 

 and that they will keep possession of such cavities in the 

 manner I have stated : and I am confident that, under such 

 circumstances, a swarm never issues from the parent hive 

 without having previously selected sonie such place to rc- 

 lire to. 



It 



