56 INSTINCT AND REASON. 



nature, and not requiring to be definitely taught 

 it. Thus, for example, the art of building lionej- 

 conib is an instinct with bees. They do not need 

 instruction from one another in the mode of form- 

 ing their regular hexagonal cells with wax ; as 

 soon as they are fairly hatched from the grub 

 state, they begin to work upon constructing comb, 

 gathering lioney, feeding larvsB, and attending to 

 the wants of the queen bee, as if they had been 

 accustomed to nothing else but such adult activi- 

 ties. So, too, with the spider's web, the bird's 

 nest, the curious habits of ants and wasps and 

 burying beetles and processional caterpillars. To 

 take a single well marked case — that strange in- 

 sect, the ant-lion, forms, with astonishing labor, a 

 funnel-shaped pitfall in a dry sandy soil, and 

 buries himself up to his neck in the sand at the 

 bottom, leaving only his great jaws visible above, 

 and thus lying in wait patiently in ambush for his 

 expected prey to fall into his mouth. When an 

 ant or any other small insect happens to walk on 

 the edge of the pitfall, it knocks down a little of 

 the sand on the sloping bank, and so gives the 

 ant-lion timely notice of its passing presence. In- 

 stantly the tiny carnivore in his hiding-i)lace 

 below throws up the sand like miniature artillery 

 to overwhelm the ant, and soon brings his victim 

 down to the bottom of the trap, between his 

 greedy jaws. But all this, which so closely re- 



