9076 Inseets. 
but by availing herself of either of these expedients it will suit her 
purpose admirably; and “so thinks the bee,” The bee does avail 
herself of this spiral tube of the shell, placing or building her cells 
longitudinally, so long as the width of the whorl is suitable to such a 
position; but, when it becomes too wide, she constructs one or two 
transversely, 
Are these actions, so plainly exhibiting reflection, contrivance and 
skill, nothing more than the irresistible acts of an irresponsible agent? 
The author of the paper before alluded to speaks of the brain of the 
bee; surely no action in which the bee can possibly be engaged during 
the whole course of its existence can claim a greater exercise of its 
function. 
I will, in the next place, make one or two observations on the 
assumption that I should deny the truth of Mr. Spence’s definition of 
instinct: “Those unknown faculties implanted by the Creator, by 
which, independent of instruction, observation or experience, and 
without a knowledge of the end in view, they are impelled to perform 
cerlain actions tending to the well-being of the individual and the 
preservation of the species,” I at once admit that I do differ in 
opinion, very materially, in my definition of the instinct of insects; in 
fact, it appears to me that the definition contains a contradiction of 
what it is clearly intended to enforce. The faculties are in the first 
place described as being unknown, and in the next line they are de- 
fined as “ pussessing no knowledge of the end in view.” It is, how- 
ever, to this latter definition I demur; in fact, I believe that of all 
impossibilities, perhaps none is greater than to draw a line between 
what is commonly called instinct and reason. Are we not really 
speaking of the same sense in both cases? Are not the faculties im- 
planted in the ant, the bee and the wasp, modifications of reason? 
I have no intention here to contest the principle upon which the 
hexagonal cells of bees and wasps are produced, but I freely admit 
that the cocoons of Microgaster alvearius are produced without any 
reasoning power being exercised by the apodal grubs; I am perfectly 
aware of the fact of their being the result of crowding: any single 
grub removed from the mass would undoubtedly have spun a cylin- 
drical cocoon. ‘The elastic eggs of Pentatoma become hexagonal in 
shape through the operation of the same principle; in fact, all eylin- 
drical tubes and hollow spheres, if elastic and submitted to an uniform 
degree of pressure on all sides, will in consequence assume the 
hexagonal shape. 
The basaltic columns are probably licxagonal through the operation — 
