Bees — \ Vasps — Hornets. 131 



the bee-hive, is not produced by any work of In- 

 stinct but by a pecuhar function of the body 

 Those scales of wax the Bee softens, undoubtedly, 

 by another peculiar secretion ; and then fashions 

 them into a cell that has challenged the admiration 

 of the world. 



Let us trace this process through. There is an 

 Instinct for gathering honey and, answering to it, 

 an instrument just fitted for drawing it up from the 

 nectaries of flowers. There is also a sack for hold- 

 ing it and for producing certain changes in it. 

 There is an Instinct for storing this honey and a 

 substance secreted that can be molded into cells to 

 hold it. There are instruments given for using the 

 substance to the best possible advantage, and In- 

 stinct to guide in the best use of both instruments 

 and the substance. Instinct comes in at the proper 

 place to link all these agencies together. Let a 

 single link be wanting and all other parts of the 

 chain are useless as a means of preserving the spe- 

 cies. And complicated as this whole process is, it is 

 only a part of the connected series of functional and 

 instinctive adjustments absolutely essential to Hon- 

 ey-bee life, as the species now exists. 



Among the Wasps and Hornets that build nests 

 and cells of woody fibre, we might trace out the re- 

 lation of Instinct to structure and function, showing 

 results almost as curious as those already consider- 

 ed. In fact, instances almost without number can 

 be given in every department of the animal king- 

 dom where structure and function, either separately 

 or combined, are joined with an Instinct that gives 



