106 SUPPLEMENT ON 



the actions of which we are speaking, as merely variations of 

 instinct. 



Besides, no degree of reason, that can with any probability 

 be attributed to these insects, could be adequate to the pro- 

 duction of such complicated labours. If considered to be the 

 result of reason, they must pre-suppose most various and 

 extensive knowledge. A man could not perform such opera- 

 tions in a year, even with the best natural mechanical genius, 

 and a competent knowledge of geometry, without which he 

 could not perform it at all. It is not possible, therefore, that 

 such problems could be solved by animals, perhaps not two 

 days old, which supposition is involved in according to them 

 the principle of reason. 



The greater number of instincts, in the animals we are con- 

 sidering, is another distinctive mark, worthy of attention. In 

 the higher animals, this number is considerably limited. 

 Insects, on the contrary, possessing all the instincts which are 

 to be found in superior animals, have, at the same time, 

 many in addition to those. The bees, for instance, have one 

 instinct of sending out scouts, before they swarm, in search 

 of a proper place of settlement. Another, of following the 

 queen wherever she goes. A third, of cleansing their new 

 abode from all dirt, &c. &c. But we cannot afford to do 

 more in this place, than hint at this most interesting subject, 

 reserving its details for a future occasion. Mr. Spence has 

 enumerated thirty distinct instincts in the nurses among the 

 working bees, and the number might be very considerably 

 increased. 



The extraordinary development of instinct in insects, is 

 another remarkable circumstance. In the larger animals the 

 development of some insects depends upon age, and the state 

 of the organs. To this, the different instincts exhibited by 

 insects under their different metamorphoses are quite analo- 



