THE BEE. 119 



vouring to explain our own, we shall have to refer to the 

 opinions of more recent as well as of previous writers. 



Amongst the definitions of instiact mentioned by 

 Mr. Spence, we find the following : — 



1st. That of Addison, who, with some others, be- 

 lieves " that instinct is an immediate and constant 

 impulse of the Deity." The objection raised to this 

 theory is, that " animals in their instincts are some- 

 times at fatdt, and commit mistakes, which iu the 

 above case could not happen." 



2nd. Dr. Darwin, whose opimon is founded upon 

 the views of Pythagoras, Plato, and others, believes 

 that "instinct in animals is the same as reason ia 

 man, and that all the actions of animals, however 

 complicated, are, like those of the human race, the re- 

 sult of observation, invention, and experience.^' This 

 theory Mr. Spence refutes, by showing that as soon 

 as the Bee has emerged from the pupa-case, she 

 at once betakes herself to the collecting of honey 

 or the fabrication of a cell, " which operation she per- 

 forms as adroitly as the most hoary inhabitant of the 

 hive," and this he presumes would denote in the Bee 

 the absence of those reasoning powers which can only 

 result with time. 



At the same time we must add that, although Mr. 

 Spence refuses thus to confound instinct and reason, 

 he does not deny, but attributes a certain amount of 

 the latter quality even to some of the insect races. 



3rd. The theory of " sensation," iu which iastinct 

 is represented as " a predisposition to certain actions. 



