PERFECU SOCIETIES OF INSECTS:. oT 
cieties—you will readily perceive that I am speaking of 
fear ;—under the influence of this passion these are 
drawn closer together, and unite more intimately for de- 
fence against some common enemy, and to raise works 
of munition that may resist his attack. 
The main instrument of association is language, and 
no association can be perfect where there is not a com- 
mon tongue. The origin of nationality was difference of 
speech :—at Babel, when tongues were divided, nations 
separated. Language may be understood in a larger 
sense than to signify inflections of the voice,—it may well 
include all the means of making yourself understood by 
another, whether by gestures, sounds, signs, or words: 
the two first of these kinds may be called natural lan- 
guage, and the two last arbitrary or artificial. 
I have said that perfect societies of insects exhibit the 
semblance of a nearer approach, both in their principle 
and its results, to the societies of man himself, because, 
unless we could perfectly understand what instinct is, 
and how it acts, we cannot, without exposing ourselves 
to the charge of temerity, assert that these are precisely 
the same. 
But when we consider the object of these societies, the 
preservation and multiplication of the species; and the 
means by which that object is attained, the united la- 
bours and co-operation of perhaps millions of indivi- 
duals, it seems as if they were impelled by passions very 
similar to those main-springs of human associations, 
which I have just enumerated. Desire appears to sti- 
mulate them—love to allure them—fear to alarm them. 
They want a habitation to reside in, and tood for their 
subsistence. Does not this look as if desire were the 
