AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



813 



this word is perfectly legitimate. Nor 

 can I agree that only an Englishman 

 can correctly define the English lan- 

 guage, but maintain that a philologist 

 can correctly define any language that 

 he has properly studied. 



My letter has exceeded the limits I had 

 intended, and I hope you will excuse it, 

 but I was anxious to correct the error I 

 had unconsciously made, and also to 

 refer to Mr. Hewitt's frequent inaccur- 

 acies. 



London, England, Oct. 2, 1891. 



Bees Unconscions of Their Acts. 



G. W. DEMAEEE. 



Query 791 seems to have awakened 

 some inquiry involving the question, 

 "Do bees reason?*' Properly, "Are 

 bees intellectual beings ?" Were I going 

 to decide the question upon the evi- 

 dence, " Do bees reason ?" I would com- 

 mence at the bottom of the proposition, 

 and reaaon upward to a conclusion. 

 Those answers to the query that tend to 

 the affirmative, begin their reasoning at 

 the top and proceed downward. The 

 same is true as to the line of reasoning 

 adopted by the writer of the arbi'les on 

 pages 587 and 658 of this Journal,. 

 Such a method of reasoning is faulty 

 because it assumes the thing to be true, 

 that it is to be proven. 



The best philosophy, most universally 

 accepted in all the ages of the past, and 

 which is supported by divine revelation, 

 teaches that the animate creation of the 

 universe consists of two classes of beings, 

 with a sharply-cut line between them. 

 The one class is rational, intellectual, 

 spiritual, immortal. Man stands at the 

 foot of the " created intelligence," being 

 a " little lower than the angels." The 

 other class is anivfial only — irrational. I 

 will not insult the intelligence of the 

 reader by asking to which of these 

 classes the bee belongs. She is an irra- 

 tional creature, and, therefore, does not 

 " reason." But it is argued that bees do 

 things that seem to be the effect of 

 "reasoning," and perform some acts 

 that look like the exercise of the faculty 

 of memory, etc. Admit this, and yet 

 this sort of reasoning is the merest 

 assumption, because it assumes as true 

 the thing to be proven. 



The question does not rest upon the 

 acts the bees perform, however wonder- 

 ful they may be. Do they perform their 

 part in the economy of life consciously, 

 as rational beings ? When this is proven 



affirmatively, it will be time enough to 

 assert that "bees reason." Until the 

 proof is forthcoming, those of us who 

 are less credulous, will be content with 

 the belief that bees, like other irrational 

 animals, perform their acts in the 

 economy of life miconsciously, under 

 directions of the promptings of instinct, 

 which is the " property of animal life." 



I might safely let the subject drop 

 here, but as it is an interesting one to 

 me, I propose to suggest a few ideas 

 that may interest some, and be of benefit 

 to all who care to study the instincts 

 and habits of bees. 



The notion that bees " send out 

 scouts" from the clustered swarm, is an 

 ancient story. It dates back to where 

 the "memory of man runneth not." It 

 is as old as that other story that bees 

 look after the coffin that saddened the 

 household, especially if there was the 

 smell of varnish about the coffin. It is 

 a good story, calclutated to excite the 

 wonder of lovers of the " curious," and 

 no set of people is more fond of the 

 curious than the bee-people. 



I once thought it was true, and when 

 I was investigating its claims I was very 

 slow and shaky to give up my faith in 

 the " bee scouts," after the fashion of 

 Moses and Joshua, with the historical 

 Rahab left out. If our romantic fathers 

 had held on to the Rahab episode, it would 

 have " shaken " me all over to give it up. 



But one thing that I observed made it 

 more easy to me. When experimenting 

 I noticed how unreasonable these " rea- 

 soning " bees were. As soon as the 

 cluster was formed, a "counsel was 

 held," and "scouts" were "sent out" in 

 all directions, and as soon as one of 

 them returned and reported that a home 

 was discovered and pre-empted (no 

 title papers), the swarm, without further 

 ado, would "light out" to the pre- 

 emption, leaving the other faithful 

 scouts to mourn the perfidy of the com- 

 monwealth. It seemed to me that this 

 was as mean a trick as any " reasoning" 

 beings could be guilty of. Many times 

 nations of people have declared war be- 

 cause of acts of less treachery than these. 



In fact, and free from all romance, I 

 discovered that when a swarm is about 

 to issue, the whole of the colony is not 

 "struck" with the swarming impulse 

 alike and at once. This is a wise pro- 

 vision of nature to guard against the 

 entire desertion of the brood. This is 

 shown by the fact that some individual 

 bees are taken by surprise, and hurry 

 off with the swarm while loaded with 

 pollen. Others seem to go without the 

 promptings of the swarm impulse, and 



