THE INSTINCT OF ANIMALS 155 



been a gradually increasing conviction as to the as 

 yet unimagined significance of mind in the further 

 evolution of the universe. But I think that a first 

 step toward a truer appreciation of the almost 

 inconceivable potentialities of mind in the future is 

 a clearer perception of the difference which marks 

 off its higher manifestations from even the most 

 remarkable examples of animal instinct. 



On the table before me is a little red-covered box 

 connected underneath the window-frame with the 

 outer air, and corresponding in some respects to 

 that used by bee-keepers when they wish to start 

 a new colony. It contains a single full-sized comb 

 filled with bee-brood in all stages of development, 

 which was transferred four days ago from an ordinary 

 bar-framed hive. The excitement now visible 

 among the bees as I let down the shutter is intense. 

 In one spot they have broken down the worker- 

 cells and are building up a large structure, at the 

 bottom of which one catches occasional glimpses of 

 a white grub that an eager crowd of bees, jostling 

 one another in their excitement, are endeavouring to 

 feed. It is the new queen that is to be. This 

 action of the bees in thus, on the loss of the mother 

 of the hive, selecting a worker-grub and rearing 

 from it a new queen, has often been described. 

 There is no example of animal capacity in nature 

 which is more striking or which has been oftener 

 remarked upon as displaying reasoning power. It 

 exhibits an apparent intelligence and foreknowledge 

 which call forth the admiration of all observers. 

 Nevertheless, it has to be admitted that the same 

 bees in other circumstances show no particular 

 gifts of intelligence. Bees when short of food 



