ering of
the cell. She has gone in search of a second pellet of mortar wherewith
to strengthen her work. In her absence, I prick the lid with a needle
and widen the hole thus made, until it is half the size of the opening.
The insect returns and repairs the damage. It was originally engaged on
the lid and is merely continuing its work in mending that lid.

A second is still at her first row of bricks. The cell as yet is no more
than a shallow cup, containing no provisions. I make a big hole in the
bottom of the cup and the Bee hastens to stop the breach. She was busy
building and turned aside a moment to do more building. Her repairs are
the continuation of the work on which she was engaged.

A third has laid her egg and closed the cell. While she is gone in
search of a fresh supply of cement to strengthen the door, I make a
large aperture immediately below the lid, too high up to allow the
honey to escape. The insect, on arriving with its mortar intended for
a different task, sees its broken jar and soon puts the damage right.
I have rarely witnessed such a sensible performance. Nevertheless, all
things considered, let us not be too lavish of our praises. The insect
was busy closing up. On its return, it sees a crack, representing in its
eyes a bad join which it had overlooked; it completes its actual task by
improving the join.

The conclusion to be drawn from these three instances, which I select
from a large number of others, more or less similar, is that the insect
is able to cope with emergencies, provided that the new action be not
outside the course of its actual work at the moment. Shall we say then
that reason directs it? Why should we? The insect persists in the same
psychic course, it continues its action, it does what it was doing
before, it corrects what to it appears but a careless flaw in the work
of the moment.

Here, moreover, is something which would change our estimate entirely,
if it ever occurred to us to look upon these repaired breaches as a
work dictated by reason. Let us turn to the second class of emergency
referred to above: let us imagine, first, cells similar to those in the
second experiment, that is to say, only half-finished, in the form of a
shallow cup, but already containing honey. I make a hole in the bottom,
through which the provisions ooze and run to waste. Their owners
are harvesting. Let us imagine, on the other hand, cells very nearly
finished and almost completely provisio