The Progress of the Race 



their enterprising intellect with opportuni- 

 ties for veritable discoveries and veritable 

 inventions. Thus, for instance, to aid in 

 the rearing of the larvae and nymphs, the 

 bee-keeper will scatter a certain quantity 

 of flour close to the hive when the pollen 

 is scarce of which these consume an enor- 

 mous quantity. In a state of nature, in 

 the heart of their native forests in the 

 Asiatic valleys, where they existed prob- 

 ably long before the tertiary epoch, the 

 bees can evidently never have met with 

 a substance of this kind. And yet, if 

 care be taken to " bait" some of them 

 with it, by placing them on the flour, 

 they will touch it and test it, they will 

 perceive that its properties more or less 

 resemble those possessed by the dust of 

 the anthers ; they will spread the news 

 among their sisters, and we shall soon 

 find every forager hastening to this un- 

 txpected, incomprehensible food, which, 

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