4.72 INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 
connected with hunger and the sexual passion, and some 
other particular facts, as the laying of the eggs of the 
flesh-fly in the flowers of Stapelia hirsuta, instead of in 
carrion their proper nidus, and of those of the common 
house-fly in snuff* instead of dung; for in these stances 
the smell seems so clearly the guide, that it even leads 
into error. But what connexion between sensation and 
instinct do we see in the conduct of the working-bees, 
which fabricate some of the cells in a comb larger than 
others, expressly to contain the eggs and future grubs 
of drones, though these eggs are not laid by themselves, 
and are still in the ovaries of the queen? So, we may 
plausibly enough conjecture that the fury with which, in 
ordinary circumstances, at a certain period of the year, 
the working-bees are inspired towards the drones, is the 
effect of some disagreeable smell or emanation proceeding 
trom them at that particular time: but how can we ex- 
plain, on similar grounds, the fact that in a hive deprived 
of a queen, no massacre of the drones takes place? 
Lastly, to omit here a hundred other instances, as many 
of them will be subsequently adverted to, if we may with 
some show of reason suppose that it is the sensation of 
heat which causes bees to swarm; yet what possible con- 
ception can we form of its being bodily sensations that 
lead bees to send out scouts in search of a hive suitable 
for the new colony, several days before swarming ? 
After these observations on the nature of instinct, — 
generally, I pass on to contrast in several particulars the 
4 Dr. Zinken genannt Sommer says, that if in August and Sep- 
tember a snuff-box be left open, it will be seen to be frequented by 
the common house-fly (Musca domestica), the eggs of which will be 
found to have been deposited amongst the snuff. Germar Mag. der 
Ent. 1. i. 189. 
