PASSIONS AND EMOTIONS OF BEES. 233 



for relief; and, on the other, having apparently no 

 distinct knowledge of how the doing or omission of 

 any action will affect other individuals, they cannot 

 be sensible of regret or satisfaction in having done, 

 or neglected to do, any specific deed. 



We might, probably, with equal assurance deny 

 to bees the possession of hope. It is true they 

 prepare combs, store honey and pollen, attend upon 

 the queen when laying, and carefully nurture the 

 larvae, as if they anticipated the rearing of a progeny ; 

 but it is difficult to conceive that these various duties 

 are carried out with any definite notion of the future. 

 We incline rather to the belief that a series of sen- 

 sations promotes a corresponding series of actions, 

 the combination, correspondence, and harmonising of 

 which, for the general welfare, is wrought out by laws 

 of which we know nothing, or, we would much rather 

 say, by the operation of the infinite and Divine Will, 

 without the direct control of which we cannot imagine 

 this complex universe could hold on its way. Nor 

 need we hesitate to assign its working to such com- 

 paratively insignificant objects as hives of bees, when 

 we have the emphatic declaration of our Lord that 

 not one sparrow lights upon the ground for its food 

 without the knowledge of God ; that He feeds the 

 ravens, clothes the lilies with beauty, and numbers 

 the very hairs of our heads. 



