INTELLECT AND INSTINCT IN BEES. 239 



We have hinted at the prevision shown by bees. 

 Now, if this really exists in them, we must acknow- 

 ledge it to be one of the very highest endowments of 

 intellect It is that which in man removes him from 

 the sport of circumstances, and gives him large con- 

 trol over his own earthly destinies. It is that which, 

 when applied to events more or less unascertainable 

 by the majority of men, proportionately awakes 

 their astonishment, and creates a reputation for ability 

 and high endowment. Now, that the faculty is pos- 

 sessed by bees is, we think, evident from many con- 

 siderations. When, for instance, a hive has lost its 

 queen, and has no hope of a successor, despair comes 

 over the community, as the workers feel they have 

 no longer an object in their toil. They seem to fore- 

 see the speedy end of their colony, and the conse- 

 quent uselessness of collecting stores, or proceeding 

 with comb-buildincr. 



o 



Again, the destruction of the drones and drone- 

 brood, when no longer of possible service, implies a 

 knowledge that the males, if spared, will produce a 

 scarcity of food, by uselessly consuming the stores, 

 while the preservation, to a late period, of drones in a 

 hive whose queen is lost near the end of summer, 

 indicates a foresight of the possible need of males to 

 mate with a young queen, whose advent is hoped 

 for. 



Without much risk of straining this line of argu- 

 ment, we might consider the storage of honey and 

 bee-bread as a prevision, and not merely as a pro- 

 vision for the needs of winter. In like manner, the 

 encasing in propolis of slugs, mice, or other intruders, 

 when dead in the hives, may be looked upon as a 



