INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE. 



hive itself, whether external or internal, but from its relation to 

 surrounding objects ; just as we are guided to our own dwellings 

 by the recollection of the particular features of the locality and 

 neighbourhood. Nor is this faculty in the bee inferred from mere 

 analogies; it has been established by direct experiment and 

 observation. A hive being removed from a locality to which its 

 inhabitants have become familiar, they are observed, upon the 

 next day, before leaving for their usual labours, to fly around the 

 hive in every direction, as if to observe the surrounding objects, 

 and obtain a general acquaintance with their new neighbourhood, 



67. The queen in like manner adopts the same precaution 

 before she rises into the air, attended by her numerous admirers, 

 for the purposes of fecundation. 



68. This curious example of the memory of bees is beautifully 

 noticed by Rogers, in his poem on that faculty. 



' ' Hark ! the bee winds her small but mellow horn, 

 Blithe to salute the sunny smile of morn. 

 O'er thymy downs she bends her busy course, 

 And many a stream allures her to its source. 

 'Tis noon, 'tis night. That eye so finely wrought, 

 Beyond the search of sense, the soar of thought, 

 Now vainly asks the scenes she left behind ; 

 Its orb so full, its vision so confined ! 

 Who guides the patient pilgrim to her cell ? 

 Who bids her soul with conscious triumph swell ? 

 With conscious truth retrace the mazy clue 

 Of varied scents that charmed her as she flew ? 

 Hail, MEMORY, hail ! thy universal reign 

 Guards the least link of Being's glorious chain." 



69. The poet, however, has fallen into an error, as often happens 

 when poets derive their illustrations from physical science. The 

 bee is not reconducted to its habitation by retracing the scents of 

 the flowers it has visited ; for, if it were, it is obvious that in 

 returning it would necessarily follow the zig-zag and tortuous 

 course from flower to flower which it had followed during the pro- 

 gress of its labours in collecting the sweets with which it is 

 loaded ; whereas, on the contrary, in its return, no matter what 

 be the distance, it flies in a direct line to its hive. 



70. Kirby mentions the following curious fact illustrating the 

 memory of bees, which was communicated to him by Mr. William 

 Stickney, of Ridgemont, Holderness. 



About twenty years ago, a swarm from one of this gentleman's 

 hives took possession of an opening beneath the tiles of his house, 

 whence, after remaining a few hours, they were dislodged and 

 hived. .For many subsequent years, when the hives descended 

 from this stock were about to swarm, a considerable party of 

 142 



