



PBEFACE. 



Tms volume contains the record of various experi- 

 ments made with ants, bees, and wasps, during the past 

 ten years ; and most of which have appeared in the 

 'Journal of the Linnean Society,' for the years 1874 

 to 1882. Other occupations and many interruptions, 

 political and professional, have prevented me from 

 making them so full and complete as I had hoped. 

 My parliamentary duties, in particular, have absorbed 

 most of my time just at the season of year when these 

 insects can be most profitably studied. I have, there- 

 fore, whenever it seemed necessary, carefully recorded 

 the month during which the observations were made ; 

 for the instincts and behaviour of ants, bees, and wasps 

 are by no means the same throughout the year. My 

 object has been not so much to describe the usual 

 habits of these insects as to test their mental condition 



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and powers of sense. 



