INSTANCES OF RELATIONS OF ANALOGY. 49 



have been experienced by all ? Now every one knows that 

 wasps, as well as hive bees, are stinging insects. This cir- 

 cumstance, then, insures the existence of one species of re- 

 lationship that resulting from functions; but if we take 

 the trouble to notice these two insects more particularly, we 

 shall find that they possess numerous other characters in 

 common. Both are provided with membranous wings of 

 unequal size ; both are social in their habits ; both are simi- 

 larly organized in the structure of their antenna?, and in the 

 number of their abdominal rings. Here, then, we find so 

 many points of resemblance, that we at once admit the ex- 

 stence of a relationship, or similarity, so close that it cannot 

 have escaped the most indifferent observer. This intimate 

 kind of relationship is termed an affinity ; but there is 

 another kind of relationship which must have been equally 

 observed by every observer of nature. We have already 

 taken the wasp and the bee as our guides, and here again 

 they will serve our purpose. Whoever has walked, during 

 the heat of the day, in any woody situation, must have ob- 

 served various bee and wasp-looking insects hovering about 

 in the sunbeams, and darting away, on being approached, 

 with astonishing rapidity. These are not, however, bees 

 nor wasps, neither do they belong to the same order as these 

 insects, although they are sometimes called drones, when 

 seen settling upon flowers, which name is also given to the 

 male honey bee. Figures of these insects, exhibiting their 

 resemblance, have been already given in page 33. Here 

 there is no real affinity, no resemblance extending through 

 a series of particulars. Habits, structure, wings, legs, an- 

 tennae, are all different, when examined with precision ; and 

 yet, on a casual glance, the general appearance of the two 

 insects is so similar. This distant kind of relationship is 

 termed an analogy. Further ; as there are instances in 

 which a similarity of appearance may thus exist without any 



