HISTORY.
These moths were known to writers of antiquity, as even Aristotle tells of their injuries. They are wholly of oriental origin, and are often referred to by European writers as a terrible pest. Dr. Kirtland, the able scientist, the first President of our American Bee Convention, whose decease we have just had to mourn, once said in a letter to Mr. Langstroth, that the moth was first introduced into America in 1805, though bees had been introduced long before. They first seemed to be very destructive. It is quite probable, as has been suggested, that the bees had to learn to fear and repel them; for, unquestionably, bees do grow in wisdom.—In fact, may not the whole of instinct be inherited knowledge, which once had to be acquired by the animal. Surely bees and other animals learn to battle new enemies, and vary their habits with changed conditions, and they also transmit this knowledge and their acquired habits to their offspring, as illustrated by setter and pointer dogs. In time, may not this account for all those varied actions, usually ascribed to instinct? At least, I believe the bee to be a creature of no small intelligence.