AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



151 



shape. It of course follows, that the base of these cells, in- 

 stead of being; formed like those of the hexagonal cells of 

 three rhomboids, consists of one rhomboid and two trape- 

 ziums. 



Here then are effects both of geometry and philosophy, al- 

 though the creatures are neither geometricians nor philoso- 

 phers. They indeed act precisely as geometricians and 

 philosophers would act, were they to undertake construct- 

 ing the same thing with the same end in view. Neither 

 can we conceive them in their process of collecting honey 

 and storing it up, as actuated by any reflection upon the na- 

 ture of the act; or as contemplating a season of winter when 

 their labours must cease. Actuated by an impressing influ- 

 ence to gather and store up, and led to the immediate 

 means and to the best mode of applying them, their con- 

 sciousness, although it reaches to and embraces the whole 

 of the sensible detail of the operations to which it is direct- 

 ed, and includes a gratification resulting from the exercise 

 of its inferior powers, reaches no further: their conscious 

 world consists of the sensible images of flowers, and fields, 

 and combs, and honey; in these, as to themselves, "they 

 live, and move, and have their being:" — they advance no 

 higher; — they know nothing of a regular hexagon, separate 

 from a honey comb, nor can they reason upon the conse- 

 quences of their actions. 



Reason, intelligence, and science, therefore, cannot, as 

 is asserted by some philosophers, be the result of instinct; 

 or the Bee would certainly be a reasoner: it must be evident, 

 on the contrary, that its consciousness can reach only to the 

 immediate inferior acts themselves, to which it is directed 

 by a potent energy operating upon its nature. 



Exercising in voluntary consciousness the inferior powers 

 just mentioned, the animal is led and informed by an influ- 

 ence, impressing its conscious mind, and producing the 

 effects of the most perfect science; thereby accomplishing 

 those objects which constitute the ends of its existence. No 

 effect can be produced without a cause, and the Bee is 

 either a scientific and intellectual being, or it is the instru- 

 ment of an agency that is of such a quality, operating in and 

 upon its animal mind, in a sphere above its proper percep- 

 tion. 



Other less familiar, but not less wonderful instances of 

 the mechanical and even philosophical powers exerted in 

 the actions of insects, are exhibited to us in whatever quar- 

 ter we contemplate their economy. The larva of a small 

 Moth, {P. Tinea serratella L.) constructs a little cylin- 

 drical tower for its residence upon the surface of a leaf, and 

 uses the utmost ingenuity to fix and retain it in a position 

 perpendicular to the site, by attaching silken threads from a 

 protuberance at its base to the surrounding surface; and 

 when the stability of its habitation is threatened by exter- 

 nal violence, it produces a vacuum by drawing itself up to 



the summit of its tower, which at other times it completely 

 fills; " and thus as effectually fastens it to the leaf as if an 

 air-pump had been employed;" and in order to preserve 

 the power of forming this vacuum, the insect never eats 

 through the lower epidermis, or inferior surface of his es- 

 planade on the leaf: — yet so insignificant is this little crea- 

 ture as to its bulk, that its castle appears like a small spine 

 on the leaf to which it is attached. 



Equally curious is the history of insect architecture in 

 other instances, as in the Aquatic Spider, {Jiranea aqua- 

 tica,) whose habitation " is built in the midst of water, and 

 formed, in fact, of air!" This creature spins a frame-work 

 for her intended chamber, which she attaches to the leaves 

 of aquatic plants growing at the bottom of the water, and 

 having spread over the threads which form this frame-work 

 a transparent varnish resembling liquid glass, and very elas- 

 tic, she next spreads over her belly a pellicle of the same 

 material, and ascending to the surface of the water, by some 

 means not fully ascertained, transfers a bubble of air be- 

 neath this pellicle, and then descending to her structure, 

 discharges the bubble into it, until, by successively repeat- 

 ing the operation, she effects the expansion of her aerial 

 sub-aquatic tenement to its proper habitable dimensions. 



The entire history, indeed, of the various species of the 

 Spider and of the Bee teems with wonders, and supplies an 

 ample stock of evidence in sujjport of the proposition, that 

 they are guided and instructed by an intelligence which 

 they do not themselves perceive. But as their history may 

 be seen at large in the excellent work on Entomology from 

 which our illustrations from that science have hitherto been 

 derived, I forbear to swell the catalogue; and shall con- 

 clude this branch of the subject, by adducing from the same 

 work, two remarkable instances, exemplifying, in the larva 

 of a species of MyrTueleon, and in the Termes fatalis, 

 the most extraordinary and surprising operations, totally 

 incompatible with any conscious scientific ability of the 

 creatures; appending to these some remarks on the infe- 

 rences drawn by Messrs. Kirby and Spence, from a singu- 

 lar case of instinct, adapted to contingency in the Humble- 

 Bee. 



The first-mentioned insect, whose length, when full- 

 grown, is about half an inch, and whose shape slightly resem- 

 bles that of the Wood-louse, is an inhabitant of the south 

 of Europe, feeds upon the juices of Ants and other insects, 

 digging a conical hole or pit for the purpose of entrapping 

 them. This it effects by tracing a circle in a soil of loose, 

 dry sand, and excavating with surprising dexterity, a furrow 

 within the included space; loading its flat head by means 

 of one leg, with a portion of the sand, which it jerks adroitly 

 over the boundary; and working backwards till it arrives 

 at the part of the circle whence it started; it then traces a 

 new circle and proceeds with the work, constantly throw- 



