296 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



on the gTound, a small straight twig from a nut 

 bush or some other tree in his hand, twirling 

 it round, as if, according to a fabulous power of a 

 ^'rod divining" the site of water, but in reality in the 

 enjoyment of a stifled chorus of angry bees beneath 

 him, on the orifice of whose homestead he had 

 securely and safely seated himself, having first 

 stirred up their angry notice by an insertion of 

 the enlivening twig. The bees couldn't come 

 out, and, for a time, he dared not get up, or, 

 as Burns says, — 



" The bees would have flown out wi' angry fyke. 

 When men so seated closed their byke." 



Had my brother risen from his melodious posi- 

 tion before the wearied bees had come to the 

 not honeyed conclusion that the world had turned 

 upside down, and that they must try an exit 

 from the other side of their home, he, in all 

 probability, would have paid dearly for his 

 harmonious pastime. 



Darwin on ^ Crustaceans ' (pp. 33-4 and 335, 

 vol. i.), asserts, ^Hhat the mental powers of these 

 ^ creatures ' are probably higher tlian might have 

 been expected." But I do not see why we should, 

 under existing circumstances, attribute less intelli- 



