INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 57 1 



Stapelia hirsuta, instead of in carrion, their proper nidus, and of those of 

 the common house-fly in snuff ^ instead of dung ; for in these instances 

 the smell seems so clearly the guide, that it even leads into error. But 

 what connection between sensation and instinct do we see in the conduct 

 of the working-bees, which fabricate some of the cells in a comb larger 

 than others,' expressly to contain the eggs and future grubs of drones, 

 though these eggs are not laid by themselves, and are still in the ovaries 

 of the queen ? So we may plausibly enough conjecture that the fury 

 with which, in ordinary circumstances, at a certain period of the year, 

 the working-bees are inspired towards the drones, is the effect of some 

 disagreeable smell or emanation proceeding from them at that particular 

 time : but how can we explain, on similar grounds, the fact that in a hive 

 deprived of a queen, no massacre of the drones takes place ? Lastly, to 

 omit here a hundred other instances, as many of them will be subse- 

 quently adverted to, if we may with some show of reason suppose that 

 it is the sensation of heat which causes bees to swarm ; yet what possible 

 conception can we form of its being bodily sensations that lead bees to 

 send out scouts in search of a hive suitable for the new colony several 

 days before swarming ? 



After these observations on the nature of instinct, generally, I pass on 

 to contrast in several particulars the instincts of insects with those of other 

 animals ; and thus to bring together some remarkable instances of the 

 former which have not hitherto been laid before you, as well as to deduce 

 from some of those already related inferences to which it did not fall in 

 with my design before to direct your attention. This contrast may be 

 conveniently made under the three heads of the exquisiteness of their 

 instincts, their number, and their extraordinary development. 



The instincts of by far the majority of the superior animals are of a 

 very simple kind, only directing them to select suitable food ; to propa- 

 gate their species ; to defend themselves and their young from harm ; to 

 express their sensations by various vocal modulations ; and to a few other 

 actions which need not be particularized. Others of the larger animals, 

 in addition to these simpler instinctive propensities, are gifted with more 

 extensive powers ; storing up food for their winter consumption, and 

 building nests or habitations for their young, which they carefully feed 

 and tend. 



All these instincts are common to insects, a great proportion of which 

 are in like manner confined to these. But a very considerable number of 

 this class are endowed with instincts of an exquisiteness to which the 

 higher animals can lay no claim. What bird or fish, for example, catches 

 its prey by means of nets as artfully woven and as admirably adapted to 

 their purposes as any that ever fisherman or fowler fabricated ? Yet such 

 nets are constructed by the race of spiders. What beast of prey thinks 

 of digging a pitfall in the track of the animals which serve it for food, 

 and at the bottom of which it conceals itself, patiently waiting until some 

 unhappy victim is precipitated down the sides of its cavern ? Yet this is 



' Dr. Zinken genannt Sommer says, that if in August and September a snuff-box be left 

 open, it will be seen to be frequented by the common house-fly (31usca domestica), the eggs 

 of which will be found to have been deposited amongst the snuff. Germar, Macr. der Ent. 

 I. ii. 189. 



