64 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



C. Why do polished substances conduct heat with more 

 facility than rough ones ? 



F. When we ask the reasons of those laws which we 

 find imposed on nature, we are very apt to lose ourselves in 

 the labyrinths of doubt and uncertainty ; yet if I might pre- 

 sume humbly to venture an opinion on this subject, I should 

 conjecture that it may be owing to this fact : polished bodies 

 come into a closer and more general contact with the sub- 

 stance that touches them, and consequently abstract heat 

 from a larger surface, whereas, rough bodies touch only at 

 the minute prominences which cause their roughness, and so 

 abstract heat only from those points with which these promi- 

 nences have contact. 



C. Do any species of insects lay up a store of food for 

 their consumption in winter ? 



F. I am not aware that any do, except bees : it is very 

 generally supposed that ants collect grains of corn, and store 

 them up ; and this is believed to be confirmed by the words 

 of Agur ; " The ants are a people not strong, yet they pre- 

 pare their meat in the summer :" and those of Solomon, 

 " Go to the ant, which provideth her meat in the sum- 

 mer, and gathereth her food in the harvest." Prov. xxx. 

 25. and vi. 6. 8. But in the first place here is nothing 

 said about laying up for winter, but merely that she 

 works while she can, makes the best use of her time ; 

 and in the next place, the Scriptures are not designed to 

 teach us facts in natural history; it is quite sufficient for 

 their purpose if the illustrations of truths, drawn from na- 

 ture, are commonly supposed to be correct. Modern na- 

 turalists have proved that the ant does not feed on corn, 

 but on saccharine or animal substances ; and that what are 

 thought to be grains of corn in their nests, and often in their 

 mouths, are neither more nor less than the pupae, or rather 

 the cocoons containing them. Besides this, in cold climates, 



