iv.] POWER OF FINDING THEIR WAY. 123 



the latter flew out at once. For half an hour the bee 

 tried to get out at the closed end ; I then turned the 

 glass with its open end to the light, when she flew out at 

 once. To make sure, I repeated the experiment once 

 more, with the same result. 



Some bees, however, have seemed to me more intelli- 

 gent in this respect than others. A bee which I had fed 

 several times, and which had flown about in the room, 

 found its way out of the glass in a quarter of an hour, 

 and when put in a second time, came out at once. 

 Another bee, when I closed the postern door, used to 

 come round to the honey through an open window. 



In the prevk)us lecture, I have mentioned that I was 

 never able to satisfy myself that ants heard any 

 sounds which I could produce. I would not, however, 

 by any means infer from this that they are incapable of 

 hearing. 



Micromegas in deed concluded that as he heard no sound, 

 men did not speak ; indeed, he asks how is it possible 

 that such infinitesimal atoms should have organs of voice ? 

 and what could they have to say ? Moreover, he con- 

 tinues, to speak it is necessary to think, or nearly so : 

 now, to think requires a mind, and to attribute a mind 

 to these little creatures would be absurd. We must be 

 careful not to fall into a similar series of errors. 



It is far from improbable that ants may produce sounds 

 entirely beyond our range of hearing. Indeed, it is not 

 impossible that insects may possess a sense, or rather 

 perhaps sensations, of which we can no more form an 

 idea, than we should have been able to conceive red or 

 green, if the human race had been blind. Helmholtz 

 and Depretz have shown that the human ear is sensitive 



