356 SAGACITY OF BEES. 



of attention, could come at tlie conclusion that the 

 bees raised such comb by mechanical means and then 

 put under the props for its support, is somewhat sin- 

 gular. Their efforts united for such a purpose like 

 reasonable beings, I never witnessed, 



These things, considered as the effect of instinct, are 

 none the less wonderful on that account. I am not 

 sure but the display of wisdom is even greater than if 

 the power of planning their own operations had been 

 given them. 



I have mentioned these, to -show that a course of 

 action called forth hy the peculiar situation of one 

 family, would be copied by another in a similar emer- 

 gency, without being aw&re of its ever being done 

 before. Were I engaged in a work of fiction, I might 

 let fancy reign and endeavor to amuse, but this is not 

 the object. Let us endeavor then to be content with 

 truth, and not murmur with its" reality. "When we 

 take a survey of the astonishing regularity with which 

 they construct their combs without a teacher, and 

 remember that the waxen material is formed in the 

 rings of their body, that for the first time in life, 

 without an experienced leader's direction, they apply 

 a claw to detach it, that they go forth to the fields 

 and gather stores unbidden by a tyrant's mandate, 

 and throughout the whole cycle of their operations, 

 one law and power governs. Whoever would seek 

 mind as the directing power, must look beyond the 

 censorium of the bee for the source of all we behold 

 in them 1 



