BEE "SCOUTS" i8i 



health we do not consider nor give a thought 

 to these functions, for they operate of them- 

 selves, automatically, as we say ; but really 

 they act under the control of the natural, sub- 

 conscious mind which, truly it may be said, 

 is the ever-wakeful " captain of the ship." 



Bees are endowed with a greater variety of 

 instincts than perhaps any other community 

 of insects. The doings of these creatures are 

 so astonishing that it is difficult to beUeve that 

 their works are not the result of reason. The 

 effects of instinct seem more wonderful than 

 those of reason ; and so indeed they are, and 

 much more certain in their performance than 

 can ever be the tentative efforts of the reasoning 



mind. 



No sooner has a bee dried her wings after 

 emergence from the native cell, than immedi- 

 ately she sets to work with a perfect knowledge 

 of what has to be done, and does it accord- 

 ingly. It is absurd, therefore, to imagine that 

 the creature is acting with individual intelli- 

 gence. And yet it seems to be a generally 

 accepted fact that bees, prior to swarming, 

 send out scouts to prospect for a suitable 

 habitation which, it is said, is subsequently 

 occupied by the new colony. Who sends 

 them ? 



If this act of scouting were indeed a fact, it 



