INSECTS IN GENE UAL. 109 



instances of these mixed actions are sufficiently common 

 among animals to leave little doubt of the fact. It is instinct 

 which leads a greyhound to pursue a hare, but it must be 

 reason that directs an old greyhound to trust the more fa- 

 tiguing part of the chase to the younger, and to place him- 

 self so as to meet the hare in her doubles." 



With due submission, the two cases are not exactly analo- 

 gous, unless it can be proved that the bees which took the 

 above-mentioned method, were old bees, and had availed 

 themselves, like the greyhound, of the lights of observation 

 and experience. This is not stated to have been the fact. 

 Besides it is questionable, whether the duration of a bee"'s 

 life, would admit of the degree of experience necessary, even 

 for a calculation like this. 



It must, however, be confessed, that this question is in- 

 volved in no common difficulty. It is altogether a question 

 to be decided by facts, the number and authenticity of which 

 must materially affect its negative or affirmative. The cor- 

 rectness of the observations made, must be taken into consi- 

 deration, and not less so, the possibility of systematic preju- 

 dices in the observer. It is impossible, within our present 

 limits, to do it justice ; there are, however, many very strong 

 facts brought forward by Mr. Spence, in favour of his view 

 of the question. Two of these we shall find room for here. 



" A bee which Huber watched, while soldering the angles 

 of a cell with propolis, detached a thread of this material 

 with which she entered the cell. Instinct would have taught 

 her to separate it of the exact length required ; but after 

 applying it to the angle of the cell, she found it too long, 

 and cut off a portion so as to fit it to her purpose." 



The second instance is cited from Dr. Darwin, who in- 

 forms us " that, walking one day in his garden, he perceived a 

 wasp upon the gravel-walk, with a large fly nearly as big 

 as itself, which it had caught. Kneeling down, he distinctly 



