352 ON THE ECONOMY OF BEES. 



taken possession of the cavity of that tree had relinquished their intended 

 migration when a hive was offered them at home. And I am much 

 disposed to doubt, whether it be not rather habit, produced by domesti- 

 cation, during many successive generations, than anything inherent in 

 the nature of bees, which induces them to accept a hive, when offered 

 them, in preference to the situation they have previously chosen : for I 

 have noticed the disposition to migrate to exist in a much greater degree 

 in some families of bees than in others ; and the offspring of domes- 

 ticated animals inherit, in a very remarkable manner, the acquired habits 

 of their parents. In all animals this is observable ; but in the dog it 

 exists to a wonderful extent ; and the offspring appears to inherit not 

 only the passions and propensities, but even the resentments, of the 

 family from which it springs. I ascertained by repeated experiment 

 that a terrier whose parents had been in the habit of fighting with pole- 

 cats will instantly show every mark of anger when he first perceives the 

 scent of that animal, though the animal itself be wholly concealed from 

 his sight. A young spaniel brought up with the terriers showed no 

 marks whatever of emotion at the scent of the polecat ; but it pursued a 

 woodcock, the first time it saw one, with clamour and exultation : and a 

 young pointer, which I am certain had never seen a partridge, stood 

 trembling with anxiety, its eyes fixed and its muscles rigid, when con- 

 ducted into the midst of a covey of those birds. Yet each of these dogs 

 are mere varieties of the same species ; and to that species none of these 

 habits are given by nature. The peculiarities of character can therefore 

 be traced to no other source than the acquired habits of the parents, 

 which are inherited by the offspring, and become what I shall call 

 instinctive hereditary propensities. These propensities or modifications 

 of the natural instinctive powers of animals are capable of endless 

 variation and change ; and hence their habits soon become adapted to 

 different countries and different states of domestication, the acquired 

 habits of the parents being transferred hereditarily to the offspring. 

 Bees, like other animals, are probably susceptible of these changes of 

 habit, and thence, when accustomed through many generations to the 

 hive, in a country which does not afford hollow trees or other habitations 

 adapted to their purpose, they may become more dependent on man, and 

 rely on his care wholly for an habitation ; but in situations where the 

 cavities of trees present to them the means of providing for themselves, 

 I have found that they will discover such trees in the closest recesses of 

 the woods, and at an extraordinary distance from their hives ; and that 

 they will keep possession of such cavities in the manner I have stated : 



