APPENDIX. 45 



But my vole is elsewhere recorded. To believe thai Ihe actions 

 of the bee are instinclive, or Ihe re*ult of any cerebral process of Us 

 own, I find impossible ; lo ascribe them to Ihe Reason that conducts 

 the universe, I deem an impnpriety of expression for perfect tcis- 

 dcm acts without comparing, i. e., without reasoning : Omniscience 

 embraces the conclusion with the commencement of the a t, and ar- 

 rives at the essence of all knowledge without a process. 



ANTS. 



La fourmi tous les ans traversant les guerets, 



Grossit ses magasins des tresors de Ceres ; 



Et des que 1'aquilon, ramenant la froidure, 



Vient de ses noirs frimas attrister la nature, 



Cet animal, tapis dans son obscurile 



Jouit riiiver des biens conquis durant 1'ete. 



Mais on ne la voit point d'une humour inconslaule, 



Paresseuse au prinlemps, en hiver diligente. 



(BOILEAU.) 



And thus they all say and sing concerning the providence of that 

 " magni formica labor is" who figures in common-place, wher- 

 ever sloth is to be reprehended or frugality advised. But alas for 

 the correctness of statements with which our ears are familiar ! 

 This insect, which fabulists and moralists, from Solomon downwards, 

 have been so fond of extolling and recommending to our imitation, 

 must, it now seems, be censured by the veracious historian, as a la- 

 borious idler, or as a miserable hoarder up for hoarding sake. It 

 is nojv ascertained that ants never open their mouths to eat or drink 

 the whole winter through, so that they collect without object, and 

 accumulate what they cannot enjoy. It is we who have put designs 

 into ants of which they never dreamt; the ant-hills, or supposed 

 magazines, turn out not lo be granaries, as a respeclable aulhor in 

 his memoir on these interesting insects recently assures us ; not 

 that they are constructed toft A less design, but the end proposed 

 in their construction is different. The grains thought to be provi- 

 sion, are merely rubble or loose building materials; " ce ne sont 

 point des provisions de louche, ce sont de simples ma'eriaux qu'elles 



