138 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PL A Y 



sprout, and use the stock of glutinous sugar and 

 starch so left as their main food in winter. M. 

 Houssay might have drawn his parallel between 

 human and animal industries still closer, if he had 

 referred to the curious partnership which modern 

 observation has made possible between men and 

 bees. By giving the bees a foundation of wax 

 stamped with the shape of the cells, the beekeeper 

 saves the hive the time and trouble spent in this 

 non-productive labour ; and the purpose of the 

 artificial aid so given is at once comprehended and 

 turned to use by the otherwise stereotyped intelli- 

 gence of the bee. 



If we are ever to discover the origin and 

 nature of instinct, it must be by the multiplication 

 of facts and observations such as M. Houssay has 

 endeavoured to co-ordinate. At present it cannot 

 be maintained that the last word has been said as 

 to the origin of those astonishing creative acts by 

 which the bee and his kind rival the mathematician 

 and mechanician, or of the means by which the 

 carrier-pigeon, and even four-footed domestic animals, 

 find their way to their home across tracts of 

 country absolutely new to their experience. The 

 wonderful facts as to animal journeys across the 

 sealess and almost riverless continent of Australia, 

 increase the difficulty of finding a suitable explana- 



