rtain fixed rules, from
which they never deviate. But circumstances may occur against which
their instinct can afford them no regular provision; then it is that
their reasoning powers are called into action. I will explain this by
stating a fact relative to the bee, one of the animals upon which
instinct is most powerful in its action. There is a certain large moth,
called the Death's-head moth, which is very fond of honey. It sometimes
contrives to force its way through the aperture of the hive, and gain an
entrance. The bees immediately attack it, and it is soon destroyed by
their stings; but the carcass is so large, that they cannot carry it out
of the hive, as they invariably do the bodies of the smaller insects
which may have intruded, and it appears that their sense of smell is
very acute. What, then, do they do to avoid the stench arising from the
dead body of this large moth? Why, they embalm it, covering it entirely
with wax, by which it no longer becomes offensive to them."

"But, papa, might not their instinct have provided for such an event?"
observed William.

"If such an event could have occurred to the bees in their wild state,
you certainly might have raised the question; but recollect, William,
that bees in their wild state live in the hollows of trees, and that the
hole by which they enter is never more than sufficiently large to admit
one bee at a time; consequently, no animal larger than a bee could gain
entrance, and if it did, could of course have been easily removed from
the hive; but the bees were here in a new position, in an artificial
state, in a hive of straw with a large aperture, and therefore met with
an exigence they were not prepared for, and acted accordingly."

"Yes, papa, I perceive the difference."

"I will conclude my observations with one remark. It appears to me,
that although the Almighty has thought proper to vary the intellectual
and the reasoning powers of animals in the same way that he has varied
the species and the forms, yet even in this arrangement he has not been
unmindful of the interest and welfare of man. For you will observe,
that the reasoning powers are chiefly, if not wholly, given to those
animals which man subjects to his service and for his use--the elephant,
the horse, and the dog; thereby making these animals of more value, as
the powers given to them are at the service and under the control of
man."

CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE.

On the Monday mor