INTRODUCTORY. 7 



substance that afterwards serves as the food of the 

 fully-developed Bee ! 



Thus you see that this " instinct" answers the 

 same purpose, and leads to the same results in the 

 Bee, as does reason in man. 



But this is the least wonderful part of the story. 

 The change of nourishment to which we have just 

 referred also alters the very nature of the insects ; for 

 it is in consequence of their heing thus fed, first on 

 honey and then on a coarser food, that certain of 

 the Bees (the greater proportion indeed) remain 

 workers, their growth being stimted and the repro- 

 ductive organs remaining undeveloped; whilst the 

 queen is fed throughout her larvahood upon honey, 

 or, as it is called by apiarists, royal paste. And, 

 reader, the Bees know this : else, how is it, that, when 

 they accidentally run short of a queen, they instantly 

 seize upon a worA'er-larva and transfer it to a royal 

 cell, hastily constructed for the purpose ? This they 

 actually do, and feed it upon royal paste during the 

 remainder of its larval existence, untU, instead of a- 

 worker-bee, they metamorphose the larva into a 

 queen ! 



Instinct (a power or quality that we are unable 

 clearly to define) is their guide in these and many 

 other interesting operations ; and if the psychical or 

 mental endowments of the Bee are thus remarkable 

 and perfect, equally so, both as regards their beauty 

 and fitness for the end to be attained, shall we find 

 the various organs and members with which the little 



