
348 THE INSECT. WORLD. 
more than president of a republic. The vice-presidents, as we 
have already pointed out, are all those females which at any given 
moment may be called by choice—that is, by popular election—to 
fulfil the functions of the sovereign, when death or accident 
has put an end to her existence. “There is no such thing as a 
king in nature,” said Daubenton one day, in one of his lectures 
at the Jardin des Plantes. The audience immediately applauded, 
and cried “Bravo!” The honest savant stopped quite disconcerted, 
and asked his assistant naturalist the cause of this applause, per- 
haps ironical. “I must have said something stupid,” repeated 
poor Daubenton between his teeth, remembering the saying of 
Phocion under similar circumstances. ‘‘ No,” replied his assistant 
naturalist, “you have said nothing but what is quite true; but, 
without meaning it, you have made a political allusion. You spoke 
against kings, and our young republicans thought that you were 
nitrates to Louis XVI.” “Indeed,” cried thie coadjutor of 
Buffon, “I had no idea that I was talking politics!” The bee 
republic, this little animal society, is admirably constituted, and 
all its citizens obey its laws with docility. 
Bees have often served as an example, proving, according to 
some, the marvellous intelligence of certain little animals ; accord- 
ing to others, an instinct voudeet ly developed. For ourselves, 
we have never well understood what people mean by the word 
instinct ; and we frankly grant to the bee intelligence, as we do 
also to many animals. The greater number of the acts of their 
life seem to be the result of an idea, a mental deliberation, a 
determination come to after examination and reflection, The 
construction of their cells, always uniform, is, they say, the result 
of instinct. However, it happens that under particular circum- 
stances, these little architects know how to abandon the beaten 
track of routine, reserving to themselves the power of returning, 
when it is useful to do so, to the traditional principles which 
ensure the beauty and regularity of their constructions. Bees 
have been seen, indeed, to deviate from their ordinary habits in 
order to correct certain irregularities, the result of accident or 
produced by the intervention of man, which had deranged their 
works. 
Francis Huber relates that he saw bees propping up with 





