2240 Insects. 



from which therefore the females never emerge. Mr. Guilding discovered this in a 

 moth of the West Indies, where the female never joiued her winged mate in his flight. 

 Mr. Newman has shown the same in the British insect Stylops ; and the reason must 

 be, that this immediate condition is not only equal to, but best fitted for, the duty. 



In the Aphis, it appears that the freshness of perpetual youth is necessary to the 

 production of a continual succession of fertile young. And as this condition is soon 

 passed in each individual, the advantage is secured, by imparting to each one the 

 power of replacing the required condition in a new generation ; and thus time at least 

 is multiplied, by compelling a succession of generations to perform the duties of what 

 otherwise might belong to a single individual. 



But while Aphides require a definite stage of existence for each one to perform 

 this great duty of existence, there are creatures which, beside passing through some 

 changes, in each of which peculiar functions are displayed, divide in their organiza- 

 tion the separate portions of what may be termed their perfect condition ; and, by this 

 separation of function, are better qualified to fulfil the complex character which con- 

 stitutes the completeness of their being. The common honey bee is a familiar exam- 

 ple of this. The utility and existence of the males are confined to a short period ; and 

 it is probable that the masculine organization will not admit of their fulfilling any 

 other function which can be of advantage to the community. But their case affords 

 a singular exception to the ordinary course of Nature, which usually closes by natural 

 decay the life that is no longer required for the public benefit. The surviving orders 

 in this regal state are so distinct, that they might be thought to be of a different genera 

 of insects ; and yet a similar law pervades their nature. The workers are only par- 

 tially developed, because this condition is sufficiently perfect to qualify them for all 

 their duties ; and any additional organization might stand in the way of the uniformity 

 of their proceedings. Of this fact they seem themselves to be conscious, and even ap- 

 pear to appreciate the influences that lead to, or annul it ; for when it is judged by 

 the community that their female sovereignty is in danger of being lost, they are able 

 to procure by appropriate nourishment the development from an inferior condition, of 

 what at first sight might be pronounced a distinct species. 



A solitary creature must possess the power of supplying all its wants ; but the ca- 

 pacity for this is more frequently obtained by limiting the wants than by enlarging 

 the powers. Gregarious animals have more necessities, — beyond the reach of the 

 powers of an individual to supply ; they are therefore compelled to divide their efforts, 

 in order that their combined means may secure the advantages of provision and de- 

 fence, otherwise out of their reach. Faculties become thus increased by division, and 

 time by the distribution of effort; a few organs, by a difference of direction, being 

 trained to perform work which, under another system, would demand the labour of 

 many. In man, an arrangement like this obtains efficiency in intellectual effort as 

 well as in mechanical dexterity ; and it is the converse of the same principle which 

 shows itself in creatures of the lowest level ; in some classes of which the individual 

 literally ceases to be a separate being, and its actions are so fused into those of ano- 

 ther, as not to be entitled to even the possession of a separate share of vitality. It 

 forms the principle of vegetation, but is common, also, in the lower marine animals, 

 which consist of agglutinated individuals, that thus form a mechauical analogy with 

 the most lofty attainment of intellectual existence. 



