A SHEAF OF NATURE NOTES 



Or try to "swat" the ordinary house-fly with your 

 hand. See how he squares himself and plants him- 

 self as your threatening hand approaches! He is 

 ready for a trial of speed. He seems to know that 

 your hand is slower than he is, and he is right in 

 most oases. Now try a honey bee. The case is 

 reversed. The bee has never been stalked ; it shows 

 no fear; and to crush it is as easy as to crush a 

 beetle. 



The wit and cunning of all animals are developed 

 by their struggle for existence. The harder the 

 struggle, the more their intelligence. Our skunk 

 and porcupine are very stupid because they do not 

 have to take thought about their own safety; 

 Nature has done that for them. 



To bolster up his case, Maeterlinck urges that 

 "the capacity for folly so great in itself argues 

 intelligence," which amounts to saying that the 

 more fool you are, the more you know. 



Buffon did not share Maeterlinck's high opinion 

 of the intelligence of the bee; lie thought the dog, 

 the monkey, and the majority of other animals 

 possess far more; an opinion which I share. Indeed, 

 of free intelligence the bee possesses very little. 

 The slave of an overmastering instinct, as our 

 new nature poet, McCarthy, says, 



She makes of labor an eternal lust. 



Bees do wonderful things, but do them blindly. 

 157 



