204 EVOLUTION ANt&amp;gt; MAN*S PLACE IN NATURE 



perience combine in determining the insect to work. 

 The difference, in the case of the bees, suggests that 

 the help given by artificial supplies of wax, co-operates 

 so as to favour activity in the main function of honey- 

 gathering and storing. The wax is produced from 

 the saccharine matter collected, thus being really a 

 part in a single course of activity. 



In the field of instinctive action, we can but co 

 operate along the lines of an almost mechanical 

 process. Our intervention is helpful only in cases in 

 which, notwithstanding proffered aid, the worker has 

 additional toil by which its energies are engrossed. 

 We understand and experiment ; the insects work only 

 under sensory impulse. This supplies contrast to our 

 observations on the co-operation with us, by the higher 

 mammals. At best, human intelligence can do no 

 more than aid the insects in their own work. We 

 have no evidence of understanding on their part. As 

 I stood lately by a bee-farmer, in the midst of long 

 ranges of hives, watching the coming and going, I 

 remarked incidentally on his working among the bees 

 with impunity. His reply was, At one time, I 

 thought they knew me ; but I find it is only I that 

 know them, for I can work as readily amongst another 

 man s bees, as amongst my own. 



If from the sphere of instinct, so wonderful in lower 

 orders, we pass to that of intelligence, the contrast 

 confirms us in the marking out of its distinctive 

 characteristics. The dog not only co-operates with his 

 master as a helper in human work, but his knowledge 

 of his master and of his master s mode of expressing 

 his purpose, belongs to the essential conditions of his 

 activity. The life of the household dog supplies 



