240 Mr. Knight on the Economy of Bees. 
a small number of bees ; but that after the swarm had issued 
from that hive, and had taken possession of another, the tree 
was wholly deserted ; whence I inferred that the swarm, which 
would have taken possession of the cavity of that tree, had 
relinquished their intended migration, when a hive was offered 
them at home. And I am much disposed to doubt, whether 
it be not rather habit, produced by domestication, during many 
successive generations, than any thing inherent in the nature of 
bees, which induces them to accept a hive, when offered them, 
in preference to the situation they have previously chosen : 
for I have noticed the disposition to migrate to exist in a 
much greater degree in some families of bees than in others ; 
and the offspring of domesticated animals inherit, in a very 
remarkable manner, the acquired habits of their parents. In 
all animals this is observable ; but in the dog it exists to a 
wonderful extent ; and the offspring appears to inherit not 
only the passions and propensities, but even the resentments, 
of the family from which it springs. I ascertained by repeated 
experiment that a terrier, whose parents had been in the habit 
of lighting with polecats, will instantly shew every mark of 
anger when he first perceives the scent of that animal ; though 
the animal itself be wholly concealed from his sight. A young 
spaniel brought up with the terriers shewed no marks what- 
ever of emotion at the scent of the polecat; but it pursued a 
woodcock, the first time it saw one, with clamour and exulta- 
tion : and a young pointer, which I am certain had never seen 
a partridge, stood trembling with anxiety, its eyes fixed, and 
its muscles rigid, when conducted into the midst of a covey 
of those birds. Yet each of these dogs are mere varieties of 
the same species ; and to that species none of these habits are 
