BEE DRESS. 381 



then be drawn over the hands, or better still, India Rubber 

 gloves, such as are now in very common use, may be worn ; 

 these gloves are impenetrable to the sting of a bee, and 

 yet are so soft and pliant as scarcely in the least to interfere 

 with the operations of the Apiarian. 



If it were not for the diseased bees of which I have seve- 

 ral times spoken, such precautions would be entirely un- 

 necessary. The best Apiarians as it is, dispense with them, 

 even at the cost of a sting now and then. 



Instincts of Bees. 



This treatise has already grown to such a length, that 

 I must be exceedingly brief on a point peculiarly interest- 

 ing to all who delight in investigating the wonders of the 

 insect world. In the preceding parts of the work, numer- 

 ous proofs have been given of the refined instincts of the 

 bee. It is impossible always to .draw the line between 

 instinct and reason, and very often some of the actions of 

 animals and insects appear to be the Tesult of a process 

 of reasoning apparently almost the same with the exercise 

 of the reasoning faculty in man. " There is this difference" 

 says Mr. Spence, " between intellect in man, and the rest of 

 the animal creation. Their intellect teaches them to follow 

 the lead of their senses, and to make such use of the exter- 

 nal world as their appetites or instincts incline them to, — 

 and this is their wisdom: while the intellect of man, being 

 associated with an immortal principle, and connected with a 

 world above that which his senses reveal to him, can, by aid 

 derived from Heaven, control those senses, and render them 

 obedient to the governing power of his nature ; and this is 

 Ms wisdom." 



This subject has seldom been more happily expressed thaa 



