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diff --git a/78604-h/78604-h.htm b/78604-h/78604-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7290441 --- /dev/null +++ b/78604-h/78604-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2427 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The Intelligence of Invertebrate Animals | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: 0.5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; + text-indent: 1em +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto + } +table.autotable { + border-collapse: collapse; + } +table.autotable td, table.autotable th { + padding: 0.25em; + } + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdc {text-align: center;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + +/* poetry number */ + +figcaption {font-weight: bold;} +figcaption p {margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: .2em; text-align: inherit;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +/* comment out next line and uncomment the following one for floating figleft on ebookmaker output */ +/* .x-ebookmaker .figleft {float: left;} */ + +/* comment out next line and uncomment the following one for floating figright on ebookmaker output */ +/* .x-ebookmaker .figright {float: right;} */ + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: 1px dashed;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ + +.tnote { + border: dashed 1px; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding-bottom: 0.5em; + padding-top: 0.5em; + padding-left: 0.5em; + padding-right: 0.5em; + } + +.ph2, .ph3, .ph4 { + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold + } +.ph2 { + font-size: x-large; + margin: 0.75em auto + } +.ph3 { + font-size: large; + margin: 0.83em auto + } +.ph4 { + font-size: medium; + margin: 1.12em auto + } + +ins { + text-decoration: none; + } + +.illowp45 { + width: 45%; + } +.x-ebookmaker .illowp45 { + width: 100%; + } + + </style> +</head> + +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78604 ***</div> + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp45" style="max-width: 100.0em;" id="cover"> + <img alt="" class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" id="img_images_cover.jpg"> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> + +<p class="ph2">LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 720</p> +<p class="ph3">Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius</p> + +<h1> +The Intelligence of<br> +Invertebrate Animals +</h1> + +<p class="ph2">Maynard Shipley</p> + +<p class="ph3">HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY</p> +<p class="ph3">GIRARD, KANSAS</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span></p> + +<p class="ph4">Copyright, 1924 +Haldeman-Julius Company</p> + +<p class="ph4">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> +<br><br> +<p class="ph3">THE INTELLIGENCE OF INVERTEBRATE +ANIMALS</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS"> + CONTENTS + </h2> +</div> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdc">Page</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Introduction</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">5</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Earthworms</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#EARTHWORMS">14</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Starfish</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#STARFISH">17</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Sea-Anemones</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#SEA-ANEMONES">18</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Mollusks</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#MOLLUSKS">19</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Octopi</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#OCTOPI">20</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Crustacea</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#CRUSTACEA">21</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Hermit-Crabs</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#HERMIT-CRABS">22</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Horseshoe Crabs (Limulus)</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#HORSESHOE_CRABS_LIMULUS">24</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Spiders and Insects</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#SPIDERS_AND_INSECTS">25</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Spiders</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#SPIDERS">25</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Beetles</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#BEETLES">35</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Wasps</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#WASPS">36</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Bees</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#BEES">43</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Ants</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#ANTS">48</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Termites (“White Ants”)</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#TERMITES_WHITE_ANTS">54</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Conclusion</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#CONCLUSION">55</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span></p> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_INTELLIGENCE_OF_INVERTEBRATE"> + THE INTELLIGENCE OF INVERTEBRATE + ANIMALS + </h2> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION"> + INTRODUCTION + </h2> +</div> + +<p>No one doubts today that all Vertebrates, +from the Fish to Man, possess more or less +intelligence—namely, the power of forming +memory associations and of learning by experience. +But when we come to the study of +Invertebrates (e. g., Insects, Spiders, Mollusks, +Worms), we meet with much divergence of +opinion among the authorities. Many competent +investigators have been led to the conviction +that the capacity to learn by experience, +to form memory associations, leading to intelligent +adjustment of behavior to environment, +resides only in those animals which possess a +true cerebrum and central nervous system, +such as is found only in the Vertebrates. Below +these forms, they conclude, lie only “instinctive +reactions” to stimuli—“purposeful +action without consciousness of purpose” +(Hartmann). With increasing complexity of +the nervous system, arises the neural mechanism +for memory association, the basis of intelligence; +and to “inherited habit” (instinct) is +added deliberate (intelligent) purposeful adaptation +of conduct to a consciously desired end, +the underlying motive being avoidance of pain +and the attainment of pleasure, or satisfaction.</p> + +<p>A simple illustration of the modification of +mere instinct by associative memory, plus +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>pleasurable or painful effects, is afforded by +Lloyd Morgan’s experiments with chicks.</p> + +<p>As is well known, no sooner is a young +chick hatched than it begins—by instinct—to +peck at all sorts of objects of about a certain +size, whether they are edible or not. If, however, +one of these objects happens to be a +caterpillar of nauseous taste, upon meeting a +similar caterpillar a second time the chick appears +to remember its first painful experience, +and refrains from pecking at it, and may even +scrape its bill on the ground as if to wipe off +the bad-tasting substance, so vividly is it recalled. +This is an example of associative memory +and “learning by experience,” avoiding the +repetition of acts previously attended by pain +or displeasure. “What distinguishes intelligence +from instinct is,” says Professor Holmes, +“that in the latter the connections between +acts are based upon hereditary organization, +whereas in the former they are established +through experience.... We have in this modification +of instincts through the pleasurable or +painful effects they produce the beginning of +intelligence.”</p> + +<p>Such notable psychologists as Mach, Loeb, +Holmes, Thorndyke, Morgan, Whitman, Baldwin, +and many others accept as a criterion of +intelligence in animals this capacity for memory +association, constituting what the metaphysicians +call <i>consciousness</i>.</p> + +<p>For most modern psychologists, <i>an interruption +of consciousness is merely an interruption +of the activity of associative memory</i>. They +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>speak of the extent of associative memory in +the animal kingdom instead of the extent of +consciousness among animals.⁠<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>If an animal possesses the mechanism for +associative memory, then it possesses, unquestionably, +the mechanism for intelligence. Just +what this necessary mechanism is, and in what +group of animals it appears in its simplest +form, is at present a debatable question—not +to say an unsolved problem.</p> + +<p>On the positive side, we may assume that if +an animal can “learn by experience”—associate +the memory of a previous experience with +a present situation, and profit by this association—it +possesses intelligence.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, failure on the part of an +experimenter to train an animal to react in a +desired way does not afford proof of the absence +of intelligence—of associative memory. +It may only prove that wrong methods have +been employed by the experimenter.</p> + +<p>Some authorities have found evidences of +intelligent reaction to stimuli, not only in such +Invertebrates as the Crab, Crayfish and Horseshoe +Crab, but also in the Octopus, Starfish +and even among the lowly group familiarly +known as “Worms.”</p> + +<p>Binet went farther and wrote a learned work +on “The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms,” in +which considerable intelligence was attributed +to Infusorians. But that was thirty years or +more ago.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span></p> + +<p>While no competent writer would assert +today that psychic life is entirely absent in +the Protozoa (one-celled animals), it is now +generally conceded that no adequate proof of +intelligent response to stimuli among unicellular +animals has so far been forthcoming.⁠<a id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>In the opinion of the late Dr. Jacques Loeb, +the claim of a number of investigators that +associative memory and therefore of intelligence +as here defined, is possessed by even +such multicellular forms as Worms, Starfish, +Sea Urchins, Actinians, Medusae and Hydroids, +is unwarranted by the experimental data. +“Claims for the existence of such memory in +these groups of animals,” remarks Loeb, “have +frequently been made, but such claims are +either plain romance or due to a confusion of +reversible physiological processes with the irreversible +phenomena of associative memory. +The less a scientist is accustomed to rigid +quantitative experiments, the more ready he +is to confound the reversible after effects of +a stimulus—e. g., the effects due to an increase +in hydrogen ion concentration—with +indications of associative memory. Learning +is only possible where there exists a specific +organ of associative memory, the physical +mechanism of which is still unknown.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></p> + +<p>Loeb admitted that associative memory “exists +in most mammals,” also in birds. In the +lower Vertebrates this capacity, he thought, +was only <i>occasionally</i> found: “Tree-frogs, for +example, can be trained, upon hearing a sound, +to go to a certain place for food. In other +Frogs, <i>Rana esculenta</i>, for instance, no reaction +is as yet known which proves the existence +of associative memory. Some Fishes evidently +possess memory; in Sharks, however, +its existence is doubtful. With regard to +Invertebrates, the question is difficult to determine. +The statements of enthusiasts who +discover consciousness and resemblance to +man on every side should not be too readily +accepted.”</p> + +<p>We must now add, that equal caution should +be used in regard to those authors who contend +that intelligence does not exist among +Invertebrates, but only “instinctive reactions +to stimuli.” To describe an act as “instinctive,” +moreover, does not explain much. G. +Bohn asks: “What is instinct?” and answers: +“A word.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Garrett P. Serviss recently received a +letter from a citizen of Philadelphia from +which I quote the following paragraph:</p> + +<p>“You speak of the intelligence of the +Spider. Understanding and reasoning go hand +in hand with intelligence; there is no intelligence +without reasoning or understanding, +hence it can be applied to Man. How do you +apply it to the Spider? So, as regarding the +Bee and the Ant, would you not think that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>their intelligence is simply ‘instinct,’ peculiar +to their species for self-preservation?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Serviss replied (in part) as follows:</p> + +<p>“I see no reason for denying intelligence to +animals ranking below Man in the scale. Both +the lower animals and the human species possess +what are called instincts, which are said +to act spontaneously, without the aid of reasoning. +No animal, indeed, possesses a greater +number of instincts than Man.</p> + +<p>“But if the distinction between instinct and +intelligence is to be based on the employment +of conscious reasoning or intelligence, this +faculty cannot be denied to the lower animals, +because I believe that many of them do exercise +a power of reasoning, i. e., of drawing +conclusions from observation.</p> + +<p>“Natural history books are full of instances +of exhibitions of intelligence by Dogs, Cats, +Elephants, Horses and many other creatures. +It is true that some naturalists insist that all +of the apparently intentional and reasoned acts +of such creatures are merely manifestations +of instinct, or unconscious responses to external +stimuli, but all naturalists are not of +that opinion.”</p> + +<p>No, they are not.</p> + +<p>Prof. S. J. Holmes says: “Psychologists +nowadays with comparatively few exceptions +agree in regarding intelligence not as a faculty +standing in sharp contrast to instinct, as was +formerly taught, but as one resting on a foundation +of instinct, and gradually growing out +of behavior of the purely instinctive type. The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>term intelligence is used here in the wider +sense as embracing all those forms of profiting +by experience through the formation of +associations. It therefore includes psychic activity +ranging from simple associative memory +to complex trains of reasoning.”</p> + +<p>Paley, in his “Natural Theology,” defines instinct +as “a propensity prior to experience and +independent of instruction”; while Spencer +(“Principles of Psychology”) states that instinct +is a “compound reflex action,” which is +terse, if not explanatory.</p> + +<p>Hartmann’s “purposeful action without consciousness +of the purpose” is a contradiction +in terms. “Purpose” implies consciousness of +end in view. One cannot readily believe that +when an Orang-utan builds its platform or +“nest” in the boughs of a tree in the jungle it +does not purpose (<i>intend</i>) to rest and sleep +on it; or that when a Beaver cuts down a tree +in such wise that it invariably falls in the +direction of its <i>need</i> it does not <i>know</i> that it +is constructing a hut to live in that will meet +the requirements of the situation in a running +stream.</p> + +<p>Dr. Wm. T. Hornaday, in his authoritative +recent work, “The Minds and Manners of Wild +Animals,” (1922) says:</p> + +<p>“Instinct is the knowledge or impulse which +animals or men derive from their ancestors by +inheritance, and which they obey, <i>either consciously +or subconsciously</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_3_3" href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> in working out +their own preservation, increase and betterment. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>Instinct often functions as a sixth +sense.”</p> + +<p>Again: “While avoiding the folly of idealism, +we also must shun the ways of the narrow +mind, and the eyes that refuse to see the +truth. Wild animals are not superhuman demigods +of wisdom; but neither are they idiots, +unable to reason from cause to effect along +the simple lines that vitally affect their existence.... +Some animals have more intelligence +than some men; and some have far better +morals.”</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, it is still “correct” to say: +“Man alone possesses reason.” Fundamentalists, +and even many scientists, find this phrase +acceptable. The “Age of Reason” began with +the appearance of Man on earth, according to +orthodox views. “Instinctive behavior” explains—for +many scientists—all acts even of +such highly organized creatures as Ants, Bees +and Wasps. Below this come “tropisms”—obligatory +movements made by the organism as +a whole in response to the varied stimuli of +its environment.</p> + +<p>Then we have the category of “purely reflex” +actions of the organism—the definite but +unconscious reaction of the organism to stimulation +of certain nerve-cells.</p> + +<p>In the higher microscopic organisms it is +admitted that any one of several reactions to +a given stimulus might <i>occur</i>, the organism +“trying” (unconsciously) one reaction after +another, on the hit or miss, or “trial and +error” method. Man, of course, learns by some +faculty other than “trial and error”—maybe.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span></p> + +<p>Finally, and lowest in the scale of animal +evolution, we come to the <ins title="Original has 'Amoeba'" id="Amoeba">Amœba</ins>, a unicellular +organism apparently lacking even in a rudimentary +nervous system. But this microscopic +speck of carnivorous protoplasm seeks and +<i>pursues</i> its zigzagging prey!</p> + +<p>While there is no proof that psychic life +begins only with pluricellular animals, thus +denying any sort of consciousness of purpose +to even the highest groups (Ciliata) among +unicellular organisms (Protozoa), it must be +admitted that no conclusive evidence of the +presence of mind in these lowly organisms has +yet been presented. I shall therefore turn at +once to the Metazoa (many-celled animals) for +examples of the intelligence of Invertebrates; +beginning with the lowest in which manifestations +of mind are said to appear, namely, the +Earthworm.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> Cf. Loeb, Jacques, “Comparative Physiology of +the Brain and Comparative Psychology,” New York, +1900.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2" class="label">[2]</a> For an excellent discussion of this problem see +Holmes, Prof. S. J., “The Evolution of Animal Intelligence,” +Pages 63-89, New York, 1911; and +Jennings, Prof. H. S., “Behavior of Lower Organisms,” +New York, 1906. See also, Day and Bentley, +“A Note on Learning in Paramœcium,” <i>Journal of +Animal Behavior</i>, 1, 67, 1911; and Watkins, G. P., +“Psychical Life in Protozoa,” <i>American Journal of +Psychology</i>, 11, 166, 1900.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3_3" href="#FNanchor_3_3" class="label">[3]</a> Italics mine.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="EARTHWORMS"> + EARTHWORMS + </h2> +</div> + +<p>In the preceding introduction it was stated +that a certain degree of intelligence had been +attributed to animals as low in the scale of +evolution as Earthworms. No less an authority +than Charles Darwin was responsible for +this conclusion.⁠<a id="FNanchor_4_4" href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> This great naturalist had observed +that these lowly creatures had developed +the peculiar habit of plugging up their +burrows with dead leaves. He noted that +leaves were drawn into the burrows by methods +best suited to their particular shape. For +example, linden leaves were drawn in by their +tips, while no attempt was made to pull in +leaves of the rhododendron by this method, +these leaves being larger at the tip than at +their base. On the other hand, pine needles, +which frequently occur in pairs, with a common +base, were never seized by the small +end, since the separated ends of the needles +would cause trouble. They were invariably attacked +at the compact basal end, which is +smaller than the mouth of the burrow.</p> + +<p>“Instinct” may guide Worms in this nice +discrimination. But Darwin tested them with +materials unknown to them or to their ancestors. +He cut up paper into triangular forms +and placed it at the disposal of the Worms. To +his astonishment the brainless creatures almost +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>invariably seized the bits of paper by +the most acute angle in carrying them to their +burrows. Darwin therefore concluded that an +intelligent choice of means to end had been +made. Similar experiments were later made +by Hanel, and Darwin’s results were verified; +but the apparently intelligent reactions of the +Worms were interpreted as “more or less complex +reflexes in relation to the form and chemical +nature of the objects drawn in.” As to +which of these two interpretations is more in +harmony with the observations, I leave to the +reader’s own judgment.</p> + +<p>Generally speaking, it is probably best to +accept the guiding principle formulated by +Prof. Lloyd Morgan, namely, “In no case may +we interpret an action as the outcome of the +exercise of a higher psychical faculty, if it can +be interpreted as the outcome of one which +stands lower in the psychological scale.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_5_5" href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Darwin’s conclusion seems to be justified by +some experiments quite recently carried out +by Professor Heck of the University of Prague, +who gathered together for his purpose some +five hundred Worms. The Worms were introduced +into a passage shaped like a capital T, +carved from a block of wood, and covered +with a glass plate so that the movements of +the animals might be watched. When they +came to the junction, about half of them turned +one way and half the other. Then the apparatus +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>was arranged so that those Worms +which took the left-hand passage received a +mild but probably disagreeable shock. At first +they did not seem to know what to make of +this; but after they had all been through the +experience about 200 times, they nearly all +took the right-hand turn. When the electrodes +were then moved to the right-hand passage, +the Worms learned to shift to the left-hand +after only 65 trials—evidently showing something +beyond the operation of mere chance.</p> + +<p>Commenting on this attitude of Earthworms +to learn by experience, a writer in <i>The Scientific +American</i> (April, 1924) remarks:</p> + +<p>“In the human sense, Earthworms have no +brains; their nervous systems consist of a +series of little ganglions, or nerve centers, on +the under side of the Worms and connected +with each other by nerve fibers. If the Worms +were cut in two, the fragments still showed the +ability to distinguish between the safe and the +unpleasant road to travel, indicating that the +Earthworm remembers in every one of its +ganglions, and that it is able to learn and +profit by experience.”</p> + +<p>In other words, the phenomena of associative +memory, hence the capacity to learn by +experience, seems to occur not only in animals +devoid of cerebral hemispheres—long regarded +as the sole seat of intelligence—but +in organisms possessing no cerebro-spinal nervous +system. In Invertebrates the mechanisms +which allow associative memory “will +probably be found in the supra-œsophageal +ganglion” (Loeb).</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span></p> + +<p>“The Earthworm has no specialized sense +organs, it has neither eyes to see, nor nose to +smell, nor ears to hear with. Still, although +it is apparently deaf, it is not devoid of the +power of appreciating those stimuli which in +us excite the sensation of sight or smell. A +strong light suddenly turned on the anterior +end of the body will cause the Worm instantaneously +to withdraw into its burrow, and +Worms readily recognize the presence of such +favorite food as onions and raw meat. Their +sense of touch is well developed and they are +very sensitive to vibrations; for instance, a +stamp of the foot on the ground will cause +all those in a certain radius to disappear into +their burrows. It is further possible that +Earthworms possess other senses with which +we are totally unacquainted.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_6_6" href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>It is quite evident, from what has been said +above, that remarkable responses to environmental +stimuli are made by animals quite devoid +of a brain and lacking in those sense organs +popularly assumed to be necessary to such +responses of the organism as have just been +described.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4_4" href="#FNanchor_4_4" class="label">[4]</a> See his classical work, “The Formation of Vegetable +Mould Through the Action of Worms, with +Observations on Their Habits,” New York, 1883.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5_5" href="#FNanchor_5_5" class="label">[5]</a> Cf. Morgan. Prof. C. L., “Animal Life and Intelligence,” +1891; “Habit and Instinct,” 1896; “Animal +Behavior,” 1900.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_6_6" href="#FNanchor_6_6" class="label">[6]</a> Shipley and MacBride, “Zoology,” 4th Ed., 1920.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="STARFISH"> + STARFISH + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Memory, according to Romanes, begins with +the Echinoderms—e.g., Starfish, Sea-anemones, +etc.; and Preyer’s extensive experiments with +Starfish led him to believe that he had “discovered +indubitable indications of intelligent +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span>action” in the case of Ophiurus (“brittle star”). +The question is still under debate, with the +weight of authority on the side of Loeb, Jennings, +Gaser and others, whose experiments led +them to the opposite conclusion.</p> + +<p>Thomson finds that Starfish learn to meet +new difficulties in new ways. If they cannot +surmount their difficulties one way, they will +try another.⁠<a id="FNanchor_7_7" href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>Starfishes are nearly always hungry and +they consider Sea-urchins a delicacy. But Sea-urchins +are armed with small but sharp “three-bladed +screws” on their backs. Knowing this, +the Starfish deliberately strip these blades +away and proceeds to devour the Sea-urchin +with its elastic mouth.</p> + +<p>Holmes observes that “the behavior of +Echinoderms is certainly complex and plastic +to a remarkable degree,” but he concludes that +the power of forming associations in this +group is very doubtful.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_7_7" href="#FNanchor_7_7" class="label">[7]</a> See Thomson, Prof. J. Arthur, “Secrets of Animal +Life,” 1919.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="SEA-ANEMONES"> + SEA-ANEMONES + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Some authors find evidences of intelligence +in the Cœlenterata, which includes Hydroids, +Jelly-fish, Sea-anemones, etc. The Sea-anemone, +possessing no nerve-ganglia, when dislodged +from its partnership with the Hermit-crab +will quickly attach itself to the Crab’s +leg and again climb up on to the back of the +shell, in which the crustacean makes its +“home.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p> + +<p>Professor J. Arthur Thomson observes that +the Sea-anemone “is in some cases more than +quiescent in regard to the partnership,” and +adds that while responsiveness to the touch of +the Hermit-crab may have come to be ingrained +in its early constitution, “it is difficult to think +clearly of its racial establishment.”</p> + +<p>The behavior of some Cœlenterata, as +Holmes remarks, “is often highly plastic and +capable of being modified in many ways as +the result of previous experience.” This is +true also of the Vermes (“worms”) and Echinodermata. +“We do not intend to deny the +existence of intelligence in the groups mentioned; +we think it not improbable that intelligence +of a primitive sort may be discovered, +at least in the more highly developed members +of these divisions; but at the present time we +can only grant the Scotch verdict of ‘not +proven’.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_8_8" href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_8_8" href="#FNanchor_8_8" class="label">[8]</a> See, on this phase of the subject, Holmes, “The +Evolution of Animal Intelligence,” Chapter IX, +1911.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="MOLLUSKS"> + MOLLUSKS + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Among the Mollusks, not only the highly +organized <ins title="Original has 'Cephelapods'" id="Cephalopods">Cephalopods</ins> (Cuttle-fish, Octopus, +etc.), but even the lowly Oyster, and the more +active Snail and Slug appear to possess associative +memory.</p> + +<p>Prof. A. H. Cooke (Cambridge Natural History, +Vol. III), declares that Oysters can learn +from experience. Says he:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p> + +<p>“As soon as an Oyster is taken out of the +sea, it closes its shells, and keeps them closed +until the shock of removal has passed away, +or perhaps until the desirability of a fresh +supply of water suggests itself. The men +take advantage of this to exercise the Oysters, +removing them from the sea for longer and +longer periods. In time this has the desired +effect; the well-educated Mollusk learns that +it is hopeless to ‘open’ when out of the water, +and so keeps his shell closed and his gills +moist, and his general economy in good condition.”</p> + +<p>A certain degree of intelligence has been +attributed to Snails. Miss Elizabeth Lockwood +Thomson, for example, experimented extensively +with these Mollusks and found that they +are educable—that they can learn by experience.⁠<a id="FNanchor_9_9" href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_9_9" href="#FNanchor_9_9" class="label">[9]</a> Miss Thomson’s experiments are described in +“Behavior Monographs,” Vol. III, No. 3, 1917, Cambridge, +Mass.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="OCTOPI"> + OCTOPI + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Schneider, Uexküll and Kollman all testify +that the Octopus possesses at least a rudimentary +intelligence. Romanes agrees with +these authorities in attributing to this Mollusk +“unmistakable evidences of consciousness and +intelligence.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_10_10" href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>“That Loligo (Octopus) and related higher +Cephalopods have an extreme agility, resourcefulness, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>and caution is already fully recognized +by naturalists, though abundant observations +and experiments are still much needed,” says +Prof. John Muirhead Macfarland, in his “The +Course and Causes of Evolution” (1917).</p> + +<p>A young Octopus in the Naples aquarium +was seen by Schneider to attack a Hermit-crab +living within a shell upon which were several +Sea-anemones. Upon approaching the Crab the +Octopus was stung by the Anemones and +quickly retreated. Thereafter it avoided contact +with the Crab. It had learned by experience +that Anemone-protected Hermit-crabs are +“good things to let alone.” In the course of +time, however, Octopi learn to extract the +Crabs from their shells without being stung by +the nettling cells of the Anemones. They also +learn to capture large Crabs and Lobsters +without getting pinched.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_10_10" href="#FNanchor_10_10" class="label">[10]</a> Romanes, C. J., “Animal Intelligence,” 8th Ed., +Page 29, 1904.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CRUSTACEA"> + CRUSTACEA + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Romanes finds in the Arthropoda evidences +not only of intelligence, but also (in the Crustacea) +of reasoning. Bethe, on the other hand, +denies that either associative memory or consciousness +exists in any of the Arthropoda +(Crabs, Spiders, Insects, etc.) The admittedly +complex behavior of these forms is ascribed +by Bethe entirely to “reflex action,” +wholly devoid of psychic elements.</p> + +<p>“This opinion,” says Holmes, “is in part +based on <i>a priori</i> deductions from the organization +of the nervous system and it is held +to chiefly by morphologists and physiologists +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>whose observation of the behavior of animals +is limited and warped by preconceptions.” +Bethe’s experiments were “obviously inadequate.” +As Loeb facetiously puts it, “his conclusions +are based upon a few spankings he +gave a Crab which obdurately rushed into +a dark corner (its instinctive action when +frightened) despite the presence there of a +Devil-fish (Edolene), the Crab’s natural +enemy.”</p> + +<p>Yerkes and Huggins, Cowles and other observers +have found that Crabs and Crayfish +are both capable of learning by experience; +while Spaulding has demonstrated the capacity +of Hermit-crabs (Pagurus longicarpus) to +form associations.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="HERMIT-CRABS"> + HERMIT-CRABS + </h2> +</div> + +<p>The Hermit-crab deliberately seeks a partner-Anemone +if one has not chanced to attach +itself to its adopted shell-home. Grasping +an Anemone with its claw, it places it upon +the back of the Mollusk (e.g., Periwinkle, +Whelk) shell which it had appropriated for +its residence, and then adds a second and a +third Anemone until it is completely “camouflaged.” +If the Crustacean has occasion to +remove to a new shell (which it does after +each moult), it sometimes carries a partner-Anemone +on its great claw, as a form of protection. +The Anemone is, indeed, a sort of +outer defense, being richly endowed with batteries +of stinging cells. Thomson remarks +that the Hermit-crab’s behavior is “suffused +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>with an appreciative awareness of what he is +doing.”</p> + +<p>Recent experiments conducted by Mr. S. +Mikhailoff, of the Oceanographic Institute at +Monaco, on the Hermit-crab proved conclusively +that a complex neuro-psychical activity +in animals having neither a cerebrum nor a +central nervous system is possible. The animal +was able to distinguish differences in +shades of red, “refusing to respond to anything +except the color which was the ‘educating’ +stimulus, even when shades of red very +near this were employed.” In Man the power +to distinguish between colors and their shades +is located in the gray matter of the cerebrum. +The Hermit-crab has no cerebrum.</p> + +<p>An important conclusion derived by Mr. +Mikhailoff from his extensive experiments is +that it is a mistake to compare the ganglionic +nervous system of invertebrate animals to the +sympathetic system of vertebrate animals. He +also proved by the experiments in question +that it is possible to establish an associated +reflex “in response to any external stimulus +whatever.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_11_11" href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>It is interesting to note in this connection +that Crabs, like Birds and other animals, have +their own peculiar homing instincts. Carry +a shore-crab back from the beach, lay it down, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>and unerringly it starts back in the right +direction, straight for the sea.</p> + +<p>“Some land-crabs of the West Indies and +North America combine in large swarms to +travel to the sea and to deposit therein their +spawn; and each such migration implies concert, +co-operation and mutual support,” remarks +P. A. Kropotkin (“Mutual Aid,” 1902).</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_11_11" href="#FNanchor_11_11" class="label">[11]</a> A resume of Mikhailoff’s experiments, translated +from the <i>Revue Général de Science</i> (Paris), +January 15, 1921, may be found in <i>The Scientific +American</i> for April, 1921. Cf. Morgan, C. L., “Animal +Behavior,” 1900.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="HORSESHOE_CRABS_LIMULUS"> + HORSESHOE CRABS (LIMULUS) + </h2> +</div> + +<p>In reference to Horseshoe-crabs Kropotkin +says: “I was struck (in 1882, at the Brighton +Aquarium) with the extent of mutual assistance +which these clumsy animals are capable +of bestowing upon a comrade in case of need. +One of them had fallen upon its back in a +corner of the tank, and its heavy saucepan-like +carapace prevented it from returning to its +natural position, the more so as there was in +the corner an iron bar which rendered the task +still more difficult. Its comrades came to the +rescue, and for one hour’s time I watched how +they endeavored to help their fellow-prisoner. +They came two at once, pushed their friend +from beneath, and after strenuous efforts succeeded +in lifting it upright: but the iron bar +would prevent them from achieving the work +of rescue, and the Crab would again heavily +fall upon its back. After many attempts, one +of the helpers would go in the depth of the +tank and bring two other Crabs, which would +begin with fresh forces the same pushing and +lifting of their helpless comrade. We stayed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>in the Aquarium for more than two hours, and, +when leaving, we again came to cast a glance +upon the tank: the work of rescue still continued! +Since I saw that, I cannot refuse +credit to the observation quoted by Dr. Erasmus +Darwin—namely, that ‘the common Crab +during the moulting season stations as sentinel +an unmoulted or hard-shelled individual +to prevent marine enemies from injuring +moulted individuals in their unprotected +state’.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="SPIDERS_AND_INSECTS"> + SPIDERS AND INSECTS + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Manifestations of intelligence are much more +numerous among Insects and Spiders than in +the Crustacea and Mollusca. Forel goes so +far as to attribute to Insects an “ability to instinctively +draw inferences from analogy.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_12_12" href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_12_12" href="#FNanchor_12_12" class="label">[12]</a> Forel, A., “The Senses of Insects,” (Translation) +London, 1908.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="SPIDERS"> + SPIDERS + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Macfarland places the Spiders as following +the Cephalopoda in order of intelligence, as +does Sir A. E. Shipley. Says the latter:—</p> + +<p>“The Arachnida, together with the Crustacea, +Insects, Myriapods, and Peripatus, make +up the great phylum Arthropoda, a phylum +which, from the point of view of numbers of +species and individuals, is the dominant one on +this planet, and from the point of view of +intelligence and power of co-operating in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>formation of social communities is surpassed +but by the Vertebrata.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_13_13" href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>Spiders possess considerable skill as weavers, +hunters, miners, builders and aeronauts. +Lacking ears, they “feel” sounds. With but +limited visual powers, they nevertheless unerringly +pick out the particular strand of the +web in which a victim Insect has been trapped. +It has been said that the Spider must run to +the center of the web before she can know +which strand to follow out and reach the entrapped +victim. Says Gustav Kafka, in his +“Animal Psychology,” “Spiders seem to be endowed +with a very keen sense of touch, and +know instantly along which strand of their +web to go in order to get to any Insect or +other object that may become caught in their +trap.” The layman probably will wonder why +the Spider does not take the shortest path to +get its quarry, instead of first going to the +center of the web, which involves covering a +double distance, perhaps on the very next +strand of silk. This is probably due to the +Spider’s very limited eyesight, in spite of the +six to eight eyes which it possesses—so limited, +in fact, that it can see ordinarily for a +distance of only a few inches.</p> + +<p>Nature has provided the spider with an +unusually sharp sense of touch, and it can +tell, by the vibration of the connecting strand +of silk, that some object has lighted on the +web. It speeds to the center of the web, from +which, by means of its eight legs and this +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>keen sense of touch it can immediately ascertain +by the vibration on which radiating strand +the object may have alighted. “That is why +all Spiders go first to the center of their web +to catch a captive that may lie on the outer +radius of the web, and that they may even +have passed on the way to the center.”</p> + +<p>One cannot but admire, says Prof. E. L. Bouvier, +“the marvelous vertical orb-web made by +those gifted Spiders which are called indifferently +Acaneus or Epeira. Radii spaced at equal +distances form the framework and connect it +with the helix where Insects are captured and +which adheres tenaciously to the radii. From +the center where the latter converge there +starts a guide-line which connects them with +the ordinary retreat of the animal. Lurking at its +post with <ins title="Original has 'o e'" id="one">one</ins> hand, so to speak, upon the guide-line, +the Spider perceives the slightest tremor +of the web. Has an Insect been caught in the +net? If so, it runs down the guide-line until it +reaches it, binds it fast, and slowly sucks its +sweet juices, on the spot if it is small, but on +its retreat if it is strong.”</p> + +<p>The sense of touch is developed in Spiders +beyond all comparison with other animals. “A +female orb-weaver, at the center of her web, +can tell friend from foe, male from female of +her species, an Insect suitable for food from +one not suitable, an Insect of a certain size +from an inanimate object of the same size, and +she can also distinguish between sizes of any +two objects which happen to fly or be thrown +into her web. This is all accomplished by touch +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>vibrations passing along the radii of the orb on +which the eyes of the female Spider rest. Moreover, +during courtship of Spiders this system +of touch vibrations is utilized as a means of +signals to inform the male concerning the +proper mood of the female for mating—but pity +the dwarfed male should he misinterpret her +signals, for instantly she pounces upon him and +devours him without showing the least mercy.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_14_14" href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>It has been demonstrated that these little +creatures distinguish colors and select a special +shade of colors for a background of the marvelously +constructed webs. If the observer +changes the colors surrounding the web, the +Spider inhabitant at once seeks a new location +and builds a new web. Spiders must have a +sense of light and shade, in order to conceal +their webs as they do, and in the case of the +so-called “trap-door” variety, to camouflage the +cleverly constructed hinged entrances to their +tunnel homes so as to resemble their surroundings.</p> + +<p>The olfactory pores of both Spiders and Insects +are widely scattered over the body, head +and appendages. The more highly developed +the Insect, the more they are arranged in +groups, “most of the groups being found on the +legs, wings and mouth parts. So far only a +few olfactory pores have been found on the +antennæ, these being present on the bases of +the antennæ of Bees, Grasshoppers, Roaches +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>and Crickets. Briefly described, an olfactory +pore is nothing more than a nerve passing +through a tiny <ins title="Original has 'hold'" id="hole">hole</ins> in the ‘skin’ or chitin of the +Insect” (McIndoo, <i>Loc. cit.</i>, Page 470). “The +so-called gustatory sense in Insects is only a +phase of the olfactory sense.”</p> + +<p>Spiders, according to the latest experiments, +are deaf, and only a few are able to make +sounds. Most Insects can hear, but the Cicada +is said to be deaf, and the female both deaf +and dumb. Modern research tends to support +Forel’s conclusion that Insects cannot “hear” +in the sense that we do. He compares this perception +in them to that in deaf-mutes who feel +the rolling of a carriage at a distance. But +nothing final can at present be said on this +question. Schon, for instance, has described +a structure in the tibiæ of Bees which he regards +as an auditory apparatus. Child thinks +that he has discovered an auditory organ in the +Mosquito. Many of the experimental results +obtained “indicate that Insects can hear” (McIndoo).</p> + +<p>The orb-weaving Spiders have no peers in +the art of weaving. They know how to fasten +marvelously regular webs between the branches +of trees, how to pass over rivers on bridges of +floating threads, and even when still young, +they know how to use similar threads to take +flight through the air as real aeronauts.</p> + +<p>“The most difficult but not the most delicate +work in the making of an orb-web,” says Prof. +E. L. Bouvier, “is the establishment of the suspending +cable which stretches between two +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>points at a distance from each other and supports +the whole structure. Sometimes the +Spider fastens its thread at one of these points +and then repairs to the other where it stretches +and fastens the cord which has issued from its +spinnerets during the course of its journey. But +this process is not applicable over all sorts of +<i>terrain</i> and is even practically impossible when +the two points are separated by a stream of +water or by any other insurpassable obstacle. +In this case the Spider stations itself or suspends +itself at one of the points ... and emits +a thread which is carried by the wind until it +attaches itself at another elevated point. According +to Fabre the process may differ somewhat, +however: the Spider may suspend herself +but soon thereafter reascends by her thread; +the latter then forms a loop which is stretched +out and fastened by the wind as in the preceding +cases. In any case the Spider knows quite +well when the attachment has occurred. She +then stretches her cable and runs back and +forth across it several times in order to multiply +the number of threads and thus render the +cable more firm. The next thing is to establish +another side to the framework: the Spider +suspends herself again, then reascends by +means of her thread, follows the cable to the +opposite end, and then seeks a suitable point +further down where she stretches and fastens +the thread emitted in the course of the journey.</p> + +<p>“In the same manner, or by simply walking +from one point to another, a diagonal thread is +established which serves as the first radius of +the web. Upon this diagonal line a point is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>chosen to be the center of the structure; the +Spider attaches a second radius at this point +and then proceeds to walk to the framework +where she fastens the other extremity, after +which she returns in the opposite direction to +stretch this thread and make of it a definite +radius; the excess length is reserved at the +center to form a cushion. Now at one side and +now at the other, in order to render the structure +more stable, the Spider attaches new radii +by the aid of those already established. When +finished the radii are spaced at equal distances; +they vary in number according to the species; +Fabre counted twenty-one in the angular Epeira +and thirty-two in the fasciated Argiope.</p> + +<p>“Resting upon the cushion the Spider now revolves +repeatedly about her own axis, attaching +to the radii a central helix whose inter-radiary +elements are straight lines. Then she advances +a little farther and begins to establish a second +similar helix which extends to the framework. +This second helix is permanent in the +Nephilæ and temporary in the Argiopæ, the +Epeira and most other forms. Since it consists +of cylindrical threads it is not very suitable for +purposes of capture. Consequently as soon as +it has carried it to the framework the animal +returns along this helix, placing between its +spirals a new helix whose elements are composed +of threads bearing sticky globules. This +helix constitutes a marvelously effective trap. +In establishing it the <ins title="Original has 'Spide'" id="Spider">Spider</ins> takes for a support +and scaffold the auxiliary helix; but as the +work proceeds the latter is destroyed except +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span>among the Nephilæ, in which it is retained to +give more solidity to the structure.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_15_15" href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>Professor Bouvier does not credit the Arachnoidea +with much intelligence, and such as they +possess he thinks is probably dominated by a +strict automatism. Yet he asks, “Is it possible +to ascribe to pure automatism or to mere reflex +action so judicious a bit of architectural +scaffolding? Undoubtedly the psychology of +Spiders offers a vast field for observation and +experiment.”</p> + +<p>It is clear that the Spider is an amazingly +good judge of distance, and “can draw parallel +lines or converging lines with the accuracy of +a draftsman who uses a drawing board and +measuring instruments.” It is also certain that +they form memory associations and learn by +experience: “many examples show that they +display a certain degree of discernment when +they establish the bases of their shell or nest. +And it is by making use of these faculties that +they have been able to display plasticity in +their habits and undergo an evolution in their +industries.</p> + +<p>At the present time they are doubtless quite +as capable of evolution as in former times, +but this tendency escapes our notice because +of the automatism which dominates it. We +are particularly struck by the extraordinary +rôle played by touch in their automatic manifestations. +Spiders nearly always perform their +labors at night and it is merely by touch that +they are able to recognize whether their cables +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span>are sufficiently taut, their radii properly +spaced, and the spirals of the helix regularly +placed. With their legs and their palps they +search for contacts and measure distances +and the sensitiveness of the spinnerets reveals +to them the moment when their silken thread +is properly attached. They seem to work as +if blind, being largely guided by simple tactile +reflexes” (Bouvier).</p> + +<p>Says the same authority: “The Avicularidae +and the closely related Atypus possess in a +very high degree the skill of the miner; they +also know how to construct masonry, for before +weaving for their retreat an envelope of +silk they rough-coat it and make it impermeable +by means of a mortar made of earth and +saliva.... Fabre has likewise studied the +manner in which the Lycosa of Narbonne +builds the bastion which surrounds the opening +of its burrow. It forms it ‘of little pebbles, +bits of wood, scraps of dry leaves, etc., +the whole dexterously interlaced and cemented +with the silk.’ And again it is the <i>chelicerae</i> +which are employed. Many Lycosas, especially +among the American species, perform similar +labors. McCook reports (1889) that the Lycosa +arenicola builds a bastion in the form of a +chimney with small bits of straw or wood and +that ... at the base of this edifice it builds +a little wall of grains or quartz. More skillful +still, the Lycosa carolinenses executes a +neat bit of basket work; it curves, interlaces +and fastens pine needles, so as to form a sort +of bastion in the shape of a bird’s nest upside +down.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p> + +<p>In discussing the mystery of the Spider’s +web-weaving dexterity, Prof. J. Arthur Thomson, +in his chapter on “Animal Intelligence,” +(“The Outline of Science,” vol. 2) says:</p> + +<p>“To credit animals with reason, which means +experimenting with general ideas, is, in all +probability, too generous. To try to reduce +them to the level of automatic machines is certainly +too stingy. The fact is that the behavior +of animals is often intelligent, often +instinctive, and often a subtle mingling of the +two. But it is necessary to attach precise +meanings to these terms.</p> + +<p>“A young Spider, which never made a web +before, may make its masterpiece true to the +specific pattern the very first time. It does it +without any model to copy, and with no trace +of the prentice hand. Sometimes it can make +the web in the dark, or in the course of a forenoon. +This is instinctive behavior, depending +on hereditary prearrangements of nerve-cells +and muscle-cells, though never without its psychical +aspect—a suffused awareness and a +background of endeavor. But apart from +theory, the fact of observation is certain that +inexperienced animals suddenly blossom out +into extraordinary intricacies and niceties of +behavior, perfect the very first time, not requiring +to be learned. This is instinct.”</p> + +<p>“With reference to the intelligence of Spiders,” +remarks Mr. <ins title="Original has 'Garret'" id="Garrett">Garrett</ins> P. Serviss, “I find +among Mr. Belt’s records an account of the +terrible panics caused by the advance of armies +of Ants through the forest, all sorts of Insects +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>fleeing wildly before them. But a Spider sometimes +escaped by running out to the end of a +branch and suspending itself from a single +thread of silk, between the enemies above and +the enemies below.</p> + +<p>“There is exhibited an extraordinary repugnance +by many people against admitting that +any living being on this earth has been furnished +with anything in the slightest degree +resembling the peculiar gifts that assure to +our race its immensely superior status. This +seems to me a petty jealousy. When we dissect +the motives of the human heart do we +discover any reason why Man should be the +exclusive possessor of sparks of Divine light?”</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_13_13" href="#FNanchor_13_13" class="label">[13]</a> Cambridge Natural History, IV (1909).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_14_14" href="#FNanchor_14_14" class="label">[14]</a> McIndoo, Dr. N. E., “The Senses of Insects,” +Annual Report Smithsonian Institution for 1920, +Washington, 1922.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_15_15" href="#FNanchor_15_15" class="label">[15]</a> <i>Scientific American</i>, February, 1920.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="BEETLES"> + BEETLES + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Although the Burying Beetles (Necrophorus) +live an isolated life, generally speaking, they +know how to call for help when it is needed, +and their appeals for assistance never go unheeded. +As is well known, they must have +some decaying organic matter to lay their eggs +in, thus providing their larvæ with food. But +the food must not decay too rapidly, and in +order to slow up the process of decay the Beetles +bury the corpses of all kinds of small animals.</p> + +<p>Occasionally they find the corpse of a Bird +or Mouse, which is too heavy for them to +“handle” unaided. They thereupon call on their +fellow Beetles for assistance, and from four +to ten Beetles respond. Uniting their efforts +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>they transport, if necessary, the corpse to a +suitable soft ground, where together they bury +it. When Gladitsch attached a dead Bird to a +cross made out of two sticks, or suspended a +Toad to a stick planted in the soil, “the little +Beetles would in the same friendly way combine +their intelligence to overcome the artifice +of Man.” The same evidence of intelligent +mutual aid has been noticed among the Dung-beetles.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="WASPS"> + WASPS + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Not many years ago it was confidently asserted +that “Man is the only tool-using animal.” +Now we know that not only do members of the +Ape family employ sticks for weapons and even +for crowbars, and also use various objects for +missiles, but even in the Insect world we find +a creature, the Solitary Wasp (Ammophila), +which makes a door of soft earth for its nest +and then picks up a small pebble in its mandibles +and hammers the edges of the door more +securely, just as a man would use a pounding-iron. +This phenomenon, observed by the Peckhams +in 1898,⁠<a id="FNanchor_16_16" href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> has been verified by other investigators.</p> + +<p>“Before we could recover from our astonishment +at this performance,” wrote these now +famous observers, “she had dropped her stone +and was bringing more earth, and in a moment +we saw her pick up the pebble and again pound +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>the earth into place with it. Once more the +whole process was repeated, and then the little +creature flew away.”</p> + +<p>Professor Thomson came to the conclusion +that the Wasp’s use of the pebble for a mallet +“is not part of the instinctive routine but is +an individual touch, probably with more vivid +awareness than is associated with the rest of +the agency. The difficulty is to think of the +origin of either the routine or the finishing +touch without postulating intelligence or at +least some appreciation of significance.”</p> + +<p>Bouvier points out that the use of the little +stone is not yet a fixed habit with Ammophila +urania, belonging “only to certain individuals +more highly endowed than others, and is perhaps +only accidental even with them. Maybe it +will finally pass into the instinctive habits of +the species; for the present it belongs to the +domain of individual intelligent acts.”</p> + +<p>It should here be noted that in the psychological +history of the Articulata we witness +the gradual transformation of intelligent acts +into instinctive acts, whereas the path of evolution +in the Vertebrates seems to lead from +instinct toward intelligence. It is reasonable +to infer, however, that the instincts of the +Vertebrates were preceded by an intelligent +process and the establishment of new habits, +“which by heredity became part of the patrimony +of instinct, modifying the latter and constituting +elements essential to its evolution.” +(Bouvier, E. L., “La vie psychique des Insectes.”) +“It is intelligence,” continues this +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>same high authority, that “regulates by appropriate +selection all manifestations of race +memory; intelligence again, in the sundry +forms of association and individual memory, +that puts together the most complicated mechanisms +of instincts.”</p> + +<p>We are still told by many writers that the +Insects are mere reflex machines, despite +abundant evidences to the contrary. “This machine,” +says M. de Molostwoff, “has no capacity +for reasoning and lives as its body directs +it to live. Man, however, is the only animal +endowed with a will to live according to his +reason, [does he?] and he alone is amenable +for his actions to his Creator.”</p> + +<p>The Wasp may, indeed, “live as its body directs +it to live,” but this, according to many +modern thinkers, is precisely what Man himself +does, his “capacity for reasoning” being +conditioned by heredity, largely controlled by +“instinct,” and by his bodily structure and internal +reactions—actions, reactions and interactions +of the vegetative organism (viscera, +glands, etc.) as well as the cerebro-spinal system. +And just so the Ammophila Wasp may +be a physico-chemical-biotic machine and yet +possess the “capacity for reasoning,” yet at the +same time “live as its body directs it to live”—its +reasoning power being part and parcel of +its organism as a whole.⁠<a id="FNanchor_17_17" href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span></p> + +<p>Lacordaire, in his well known “<i>Introduction +a l’Entomologie</i>,” says of Insects:</p> + +<p>“If all the instinctive acts of Insects bore +constantly the evident imprint of a blind necessity, +there would be much less to admire in +them than one commonly does. What particularly +excites our surprise is that frequently +they accommodate themselves to circumstances, +and that their acts take on then such an appearance +of reason, that it is necessary to look +at them closely not to attribute them to a +veritable combination of ideas.”</p> + +<p>“Insects are largely creatures of instinct,” +remarks Professor Thomson, “with inborn capacities +for doing apparently clever things, +but yet with some degree of intelligence. In +an animal’s behavior there is often, no doubt, +a mingling of different kinds of activities unified +in a way that baffles analysis. In many +cases their behavior under new conditions, their +powers of effectively meeting new ends, go beyond +mere instinct.”</p> + +<p>Prof. J. Lloyd Morgan was led to the conclusion +that we have in the case of the tool-using +wasp “intelligent behavior rising to a +level to which some would apply the term +rational. For the act may be held to afford +evidence of the perception of the relation of +the means employed to an end to be attained, +and some general conception of purpose.” Professor +Holmes expresses a doubt on this question: +“Does she really perceive the relation of +means to end? I am not so sure that she does.”</p> + +<p>While it is certainly better to be over-cautious +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>than to be inclined to anthropomorphic +interpretations where physico-chemical and mechanical +or other solutions meet the requirements +of the case, there is, nevertheless, such +a thing as avoiding an interpretation involving +the recognition of a reasoning process in animals +just for the sake of “conservatism.” There +is no more merit in referring all phenomena +to “instinctive behavior” in animals than there +would be in attributing all acts of Man to +“reasoning.” As matters stand today, the pendulum +of thought has swung so far away from +the “anthropomorphism of earlier writers” that +we are apt to throw a sort of intellectual +smoke-screen over a truly rational act by recourse +to “the animal’s instinctive actions.”</p> + +<p>Again, our “experiments” with animals are +by no means a safe guide to accurate estimates +of their mental attainments. Measurement of +an animal’s real mental endowment may be +far more safely made by observation of its +behavior in its natural environment. That this +is true is fully recognized by scientists who +deplore the tendency of some observers to draw +conclusions before becoming thoroughly acquainted +with the general behavior of the forms +observed. “On the other hand,” says Professor +Holmes, “one is tortured by the feeling that our +experimental methods often fail to give us a +true measure of an animal’s possible attainments, +and that it is just in meeting exceptional +situations which occur in the animal’s natural +course of life that the highest manifestations +of its intelligence are reached.”</p> + +<p>Wasps of the genus Eumenes are said to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>mould tempered earth into pottery of the most +artistic design.</p> + +<p>Fabre tells us that the ringed Calicurgus +Wasp first stings its captured Spider in a +spot near the mouth, paralyzing the poison +claws. This precaution being taken, it proceeds +to pick out the thinnest part of the +Spider’s armor, between the fourth pair of legs, +driving in its poison needle with a skilled +surgeon’s precision.</p> + +<p>The Two-banded <ins title="Original has 'Scolla'" id="Scolia">Scolia</ins> Wasp lays up as +food for its larva a Rose-chafer grub. A single +grub is the sole provender for the larva +for the several weeks from its hatching until +its entrance into the cocoon stage. It has frequently +been stated that the “head of game” +must remain fresh all the time the Wasp +larva is feeding on it, or the Wasp larva dies. +To remain fresh it must stay alive until the +larva takes its last mouthful.</p> + +<p>To insure this, a complicated course must +be followed with delicate precision by both +the mother Wasp and the larva. With a single +and seldom-erring stroke of its sting +Scolia paralyzes the nerve-centers which control +motion on the Rose-chafer grub—a stroke +which must reach a buried nerve-center no +more than a fiftieth of an inch across, and +which must at the same time miss the nerve-center +which keeps life in the victim.</p> + +<p>The infant Scolia must then, to keep its food +fresh to the end, so eat its living but paralyzed +grub that the vital parts are left to the last +meal. Accordingly, the Scolia lays its egg always +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>at the precise spot on the Rose-chafer +grub where the Wasp larva must take its first +mouthful. There the larva inserts its head and +never withdraws it until the grub is completely +devoured. Fabre found by repeated experiment +that if he disturbed the larva the chances were +even that it lost the clue to its selective meal, +killed its “game” and died of ptomaines. If he +moved the recently hatched larva to another +starting-place on its food supply it was infallibly +lost. So it was also when Fabre gave it as +food another grub, even though closely related +to the Rose-chafer. It tried to eat the strange +nutrient, but somehow never succeeded. Hence, +according to most authorities at least, it is a +prerequisite to the survival of Scolia that the +mother Wasp select only the Rose-chafer grub, +capable of being paralyzed in such a way as to +leave the grub alive but without power to +move. In all, there are four critical conditions +to be met in order that the progeny survive: +and they are met.</p> + +<p>In their studies of the Mason Wasp, Odynerus +parietum, the Peckhams found that, contrary +to Eimer, the grubs stored for food for the +larvæ were by no means all paralyzed, and +that in most nests several caterpillars died. +In some cases all the grubs died, yet the Wasp +larvæ fed upon them without apparent injury +or dissatisfaction.</p> + +<p>Holmes remarks that while we may not be +compelled to admit that Wasps have “ideas,” +it must be granted, he thinks, “that a Wasp +which after cutting a caterpillar in two and +carrying away one part, came back and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>searched diligently for the remainder” retained, +somehow, “an impression of the missing part +and its location. If out of sight it was not out +of mind.... If the Wasp does not have an +idea of its prey it has something which plays a +rôle similar to that of ideas in ourselves.... +If there is something representing ‘part-of-caterpillar-among-leaves’ +that leads the Wasp on its +hunt, we may conclude that there is something +corresponding to ‘part-of-caterpillar-now-in-nest’ +which prevents further search.”</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_16_16" href="#FNanchor_16_16" class="label">[16]</a> Peckham, G. W. and E. G., “Wasps, Social and +Solitary,” Boston, 1905.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_17_17" href="#FNanchor_17_17" class="label">[17]</a> Cf. Loeb, Jacques, “The Organism as a Whole,” +New York, 1916, and “The Dynamics of Living Matter,” +New York, 1906; and Berman, Louis, “The +Glands Regulating Personality,” New York, 1921.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="BEES"> + BEES + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Sir John Lubbock long ago declared that “if +we judge animals by their intelligence as evidenced +in their actions, it is not the Gorilla and +the Chimpanzee, but the Bee, and above all the +Ant, which approach nearest to Man.”</p> + +<p>While Bees, Ants and Termites indisputably +possess some degree of intelligence, as distinct +from what we are pleased to call “instinct,” it +is doubtful if any naturalist or comparative +psychologist of today would agree with the +eminent British scientist in this generalization. +Yet Man has, perhaps, more to learn from the +example of Bee life than from the more intelligent +activities of the simian world.</p> + +<p>Prof. W. F. Wilson, of the University of Wisconsin, +in a recent lecture, remarked that a +Bee knows when it has had enough, and is satisfied +to work in a self-selected domain before +it “grabs for more.” For instance, if a Bee +settles itself to work in one corner of a field, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>it will not leave that corner until it has exhausted +the nectar in all flowers in that corner. +It will not fly to another corner after having +found one flower deficient. Neither will it +quit one plant until it has tried its tongue in +all the flowers of that plant. This has been +proved by releasing Bees with different colored +powder spread on them and then watching +them at work.</p> + +<p>Professor Wilson stated that another experiment +demonstrated that Bees have some +mathematical ability. In this experiment it +was found that the Bees realized when a sufficient +number were working on one apple +tree and no more tried to get on it.</p> + +<p>Another peculiarity noticed by Professor Wilson +is this: While Bees are at work they will +not change from a flower of one color to one +of another color until the nectar has been +exhausted in the flowers of the first color. +That is, if the Bee begins work on a blue +aster, it will not go next to a red one, but +always seeks a blue one again. This fact was +noted by Aristotle in the fourth century B. C., +though the belief is still widely prevalent that +Bees “fly about from flower to flower in a +haphazard way.” As a rule “Bees keep to a +single species of flower for collecting pollen +and nectar.”</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Bees are partially color-blind, +as is evidenced by the experiments of two +German biologists, Prof. F. Frisch and Lothar +Tirala. “These investigators have shown that +to the Bee, red and black look alike, orange +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>and yellow look the same as green, and that +there is no difference in the appearance of +blue, violet and purple. But Bees have one advantage +over Man; they can see the rays of +ultraviolet light, which are invisible to our +eyes.</p> + +<p>“It was also discovered that the mysterious +guiding influence by which the Bee is brought +back to its hive is nothing more than experience. +It has long been known that Bees find +their way home sooner the longer they have +lived in their hive. To test this common-sense +view Bees were put to sleep by ether, taken to +a new hive, and moved some twelve yards +away. None of them could find their way back +to the hive until the third day afterward, when +30 per cent got home. By the eighth day, however, +90 per cent of them had learned to find +their way back to the hive.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_18_18" href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>Some experiments by Professor Young, of +Geneva, antedating those of Professor Frisch, +also showed that Bees “build up a knowledge +of the country about the hive.” On the other +hand, it seems to be well established that Bees, +like most animals, have a true homing sense, +or sense of direction. “Even Bees with their +eyes obscured have been known to make a +‘bee-line’ for the hive from considerable distances,” +says Thomson.</p> + +<p>When, by exception, Bees build their nest in +the open, they invent arrangements which are +new and in the true sense intelligent to meet +the new conditions (Bergson). In the face of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span>cumulative evidence, the great Fabre was +forced to modify his theory of immutable instinct, +and grant to Insects a modicum of “discernment,” +since they have the capacity of +learning by experience.</p> + +<p>Professor Frisch published in the Munich +<i>Medizin Wochenschrift</i> some observations upon +the means of communication employed by Bees. +“He placed a dish of sugar solution on a table +by an open window. Shortly after a chance +Bee had noted this and flown off with booty +therefrom, the dish was crowded with Bees. +When it was removed they quickly disappeared, +save for an occasional reconnoiterer. When a +fresh dish was set out they quickly reappeared +in quantities. By touching the back of each +Bee with a spot of color, the experimenter +then perceived that subsequent Bees had been +sent, and not escorted.</p> + +<p>“The conduct of the rediscoverer on her return +to the hive was next noted. She first +gave over her plunder to the workers, and then +executed a curious dance, describing circles +and other figures. Her audience watched her +attentively and attempted to touch her. When +one of the marked Bees succeeded in doing +this, the latter at once made her exit and flew +to the feeding place; but the unmarked Bees +soon ceased to pay her any attention. It appears +that there is here some means of communication +based upon touch rather than upon +sight or hearing; and that it is adequate for +giving information as to the presence or absence +of food, but inadequate to give its location +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span>unless it be already known to the recipient +of the message.</p> + +<p>“Experiments with two dishes of food at a +considerable distance apart verified this. As +before, after they had once been discovered +the dishes were removed and ultimately replaced; +but when replaced, the ‘white’ dish +only was filled, the ‘yellow’ one being left +empty. The ‘white’ dish was rediscovered by +a ‘white’ Bee; and when the latter returned to +the hive not only the ‘white’ but also the ‘yellow’ +Bees responded to her dance, left the hive +and flew to their respective dishes, the ‘yellow’ +Bees of course having the search in vain. As +before, unmarked Bees ignored the dancer.</p> + +<p>“That there is a little more flexibility to the +signal system than this might indicate appeared +when natural conditions were imitated, linden +and acacia blossoms being offered respectively +to groups of Bees accustomed to seek these. +The dancing linden Bee now occasioned excitement +only among the linden Bees, and not +among the acacia group. The same distinction +was made when two dishes of sugar were differently +perfumed, suggesting that scent rather +than actual modification of the signals may +have been responsible. When blotting paper +saturated with sugar-water was used instead of +the dishes, the Bees found some difficulty in +sucking the fluid up, and returned only half +laden. They did not then trouble to perform +the dance, showing that this is reserved for +exceptionally rich finds.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_19_19" href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p> + +<p>The Bee is good-natured and even long-suffering, +but there are limits to its patience or +generosity. So long as nectar is superabundant, +the Bee allows the drones to live in the +communal hive without rendering any service +in return. “But one day the decree goes forth +that those who do not work shall not eat, +indeed shall not live.... Vigorously and +pitilessly the long-suffering workers at last +turn on the drones and slay them all.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_20_20" href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_18_18" href="#FNanchor_18_18" class="label">[18]</a> <i>Scientific American</i>, April, 1924.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_19_19" href="#FNanchor_19_19" class="label">[19]</a> <i>Scientific American</i>, April, 1922.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_20_20" href="#FNanchor_20_20" class="label">[20]</a> “<i>The Outline of Science</i>,” Vol. II, edited by J. +Arthur Thomson, 1922.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="ANTS"> + ANTS + </h2> +</div> + +<p>Many scientists have asserted that, next to +Man, Ants have the most intelligence of any +living creature. Charles Darwin said “the +Ant’s brain is one of the most marvelous atoms +of matter in the world, perhaps more so than +the brain of Man.”</p> + +<p>In the opinion of the present writer the anthropoid +apes stand next to man in intelligence. +But it is quite true that in their social +organization and industrial activities Ant +“civilization,” in some respects, approximates +human “civilization.”</p> + +<p>Ants plant and harvest crops, domesticate +animals, have a social system which includes +working slaves and a military caste, a police +force and jails. They perform astonishing feats +of engineering. They have efficiency, initiative, +and productivity without profiteering. Cooperation, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>individualism and “patriotism” exist +side by side in a real <i>commonwealth</i>. There +is a division of labor, but no exploitation of +the many for the benefit of the few. All +classes share equally in the benefits of their +common toil, if we accept the highly specialized +warrior ants as rendering military service +equivalent to the work of the so-called “slaves.”</p> + +<p>Members of the military caste do not work, +and are fed by the slave population. But this +is due to high specialization rather than to +imposition or snobbery. The erstwhile working +mandibles of the soldier have gradually +become transformed into veritable sabres or +bayonets. They could obtain their own food if +they so desired, but they have become absolutely +dependent on the “working class” for their +daily bread.⁠<a id="FNanchor_21_21" href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> But in return they protect the +colony, even at the sacrifice of their own lives.</p> + +<p>Each worker Ant finds its own task, and +willingly contributes its share. There are no +slave-drivers. When one shift of workers has +become fatigued, or must stop to partake of +food, its place is taken by another shift of +equally skillful workers. No time is lost.</p> + +<p>If one of the workers becomes encumbered +with dirt, its mates come at once to its assistance +with “first aid,” cleaning the unfortunate +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>one by brushing and washing. During their +mining operations in digging holes and removing +stones, an Ant is often injured, whereupon +others rush to its aid and carry it to a quieter +gallery, where it is by no means neglected.</p> + +<p>Above all animals of this planet, Ants know +the value of mutual aid, though co-operation +is practised among Insects of many kinds.⁠<a id="FNanchor_22_22" href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>Forel points out how it is a common practice +among many species of Ants for one which +possesses an abundance of food in its crop to +share it with any of its less fortunate comrades +who may apply for it—that is, with +any member of the same nest or colony of +nests. Approaching each other, they exchange +a few signals—movements—of the antennæ, +and, says Sir John Lubbock, “if one of them is +hungry or thirsty ... it immediately asks +for food.” The well-supplied Ant sets apart its +mandibles, takes the appropriate position, and +regurgitates a drop of half-digested food—a +transparent fluid—which is licked up by the +hungry Ant. Forel concluded that Ants possess +a divided digestive tube, the posterior part +being for the special use of the individual, the +other, the anterior part, being used chiefly +for the benefit of members of the commune. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>Any Ant which, possessing a crop full of food, +refuses to feed a needy comrade, is treated as +a “criminal” or outcast. During “war times” +such an Ant is treated as a “traitor,” and attacked +by its kinsfolk with greater fury than +is exhibited toward the foreign enemies of the +species. On the other hand, if an Ant has fed +an Ant belonging to the enemy species, it +will be treated by the kinsfolk of the latter +as a friend.⁠<a id="FNanchor_23_23" href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>It is well known that the most convincing +evidences of intelligence are to be found among +the social Insects, where mutual aid is “the +order of” every day.</p> + +<p>When the able naturalist, Thomas Belt, was +superintending a gold mine in Nicaragua, he +kept close watch on the animal life about +him, large and small. He tells us that he once +saw a wide column of Ants attempting to pass +along a crumbling, nearly perpendicular slope.</p> + +<p>“They would have got very slowly over it, +but a number having secured their hold, and +reaching to each other, remained stationary, +and over them the main column passed.</p> + +<p>“Another time they were crossing a watercourse +along a small twig, not thicker than a +goose-quill. They widened this natural bridge +to three times its width by a number of Ants +clinging to it and to each other on each side, +over which the column passed three or four +deep. Except for this expedient they would +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>have had to pass over in single file, and treble +the time would have been consumed.</p> + +<p>“Can it not be contended that such Insects +are able to determine by reasoning powers +which is the best way of doing a thing, and +that their actions are guided by thought and +reflection?”</p> + +<p>In 1921, it was discovered that the interior +woodwork of the Livestock Exchange Building +in Wichita, Kansas, was being tunneled through +by Ants. Flypaper was placed across their +line of march. The Ants thereupon made sufficient +sawdust to cover the sticky flypaper +and went on with their “industry.”</p> + +<p>Ants domesticate animals, for the same reason +that Man does. Among other animals +thus domesticated are herds of Plant-lice, or +“green-flies,” which are to them the equivalent +of our dairy animals. The Ants’ “cow” (Aphid) +secretes a “honey-dew.” In order to increase +the supply of the sweet excretion the Ants +gently stroke the Aphids. When the sap supply +for the Aphids fails, the Ants carry their +“cows” to new food plants, and when winter +comes on both the adult Plant-lice and the eggs +are carried out of reach of frost into the Ant +caverns and carefully attended until spring, +when they are again placed on the swelling +plant-buds.</p> + +<p>The presence of certain little Crickets, +Beetles, and a certain species of Caterpillar in +the nests of the Termites and the true Ants, +who seem to enjoy their presence, has recently +been explained on the ground that the Ants +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>like the odor of these strange “guests.” It +has been noted that the Beetles give off more +“fragrance” upon being caressed by the Ants. +“One species of Ants carries Mites about on +the body, feeding them and caring for them, +but apparently deriving no benefit from them. +Evidently Ants are fond of keeping pets!” +(Thomson).</p> + +<p>Professor Thomson (in the “Outline of +Science,” Vol. II) writes delightedly of the +varied activities of Insects, and concerning +certain species he says:</p> + +<p>“The Tailor-ants, common in warm countries, +make a shelter by drawing leaves together, and +their co-operative hauling is admirable; their +mandibles are their needles, if you like, but +they have nothing to sew with: what does each +do but take a larva in its mouth so that the +silk secreted from the offspring serves as +thread for the parents?”</p> + +<p>Again: “A common Harvesting-ant of South +Europe collects seeds of clover-like plants, lets +them begin to sprout so that the tough envelopes +are burst, exposes them in the sun so +that the germination does not go too far, takes +them back underground and chews them into +dough, and finally makes this into little biscuits +which are dried in the sun and stored +for winter use. Many ‘White Ants’ or Termites +grow mushrooms in extensive, specially constructed +beds of chewed wood, and some of the +true Ants show a similar habit.”</p> + +<p>That Ants have some means of communicating +one with another goes without saying, but +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>our knowledge of Ant language is still very +meager, despite the long and patient labors of +many myrmecologists. Some of the actions +considered to be involved in communication +are striking with the antennæ, butting with the +head, opening the jaws, beating the ground +with the abdomen, and the production of +sounds by various kinds of apparatus for +stridulation.</p> + +<p>“While Ants may not be able to talk about +things in their sign language,” says Professor +Holmes, “they apparently express their different +feelings and inclinations in ways which +are intelligible to other Ants. Wasmann has +compiled a sort of vocabulary of signs made +by the antennæ—a ‘Wörterbuch der Fühlersprache,’ +which is about as extensive as Mr. +Garner’s languages of Apes. According to the +vigor and frequency of the strokes of the antennæ, +and the part of the body stroked, the +Ant which is addressed may be importuned for +food, warned of danger, or induced to co-operate +with the communicants in various activities.”</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_21_21" href="#FNanchor_21_21" class="label">[21]</a> Cf. Lubbock, Sir John, “Ants, Bees and Wasps,” +1883; Wasmann, E., “Comparative Studies in the +Psychology of Ants and of Higher Animals,” 1905; +Forel, A., “<i>Recherches sur les fourmis de la Suisse</i>,” +Zurich, 1874; “The Senses or Insects,” 1908. See +also Beebe, William, “The Edge of the Jungle,” +1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_22_22" href="#FNanchor_22_22" class="label">[22]</a> The value of mutual aid as a factor in evolution +was dimly divined by Goethe, and was first expressed +as a “law” by Professor Kessler in 1880, +who was then Dean of the St. Petersburg (Leningrad) +University. Having read Kessler’s lecture in +1883, Prince Kropotkin began a series of articles +on the same subject, resulting in the publication in +1902 of his great work, “Mutual Aid as a Law of +Nature and a Factor of Evolution.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_23_23" href="#FNanchor_23_23" class="label">[23]</a> Cf. Huber, Pierre, “<i>Les fourmis indigènes</i>,” +Geneva, 1861, and Forel, loc. cit.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="TERMITES_WHITE_ANTS"> + TERMITES (“WHITE ANTS”) + </h2> +</div> + +<p>The organized social life of the “White Ants” +or Termites is of unusual interest for the +student of animal intelligence. The Termites +have kings, queens, soldiers and workers.</p> + +<p>Not related to the true Ants, the Termites +are not unlike our Roaches in the construction +of their bodies. Though found in the United +States and in Europe, their main habitats are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>Africa and Australia. In the latter countries +their so-called nests are of prodigious dimensions, +exceeding sometimes five hundred times +the length of the Insect (ten to twelve millimeters), +thus surpassing the tallest buildings +constructed by Man relative to the height of +the builders. While the height of Termite +nests are sometimes more than 500 times the +length of the Insect, the Eiffel Tower is but +175 times as tall as the workers who reared it. +“The number of dwellers in these nests exceeds +by count the number of inhabitants of many +large countries” (Molostwoff).</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CONCLUSION"> + CONCLUSION + </h2> +</div> + +<p>In view of the foregoing facts illustrative +of the mental life of Invertebrates, there remains +little ground for denying to creatures +below the backboned phyla a certain modicum +of intelligence, well in accord with their needs. +That any Invertebrate is capable of the process +of reasoning is, of course, a debatable question, +but the existence of mental processes in these +groups is, apparently, indisputable, and where +there is <i>mind</i> there is <i>intelligence</i>, however +limited it may be.</p> + +<p>Forel attributes to Insects passions closely +akin to those exhibited by the higher Vertebrates, +though these vary considerably with the +diverse species. Wasps, certain species of +Ants, and a few Beetles, are extremely irritable +and pugnacious. Among the less intelligent +species no passions are manifest apart from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>hunger, thirst and sexual appetite. The memory +likewise varies according to the species, +and, as might be expected, is at a minimum +in the small-brained forms and most highly +developed in the social Hymenoptera (Bees, +Ants and Wasps).</p> + +<p>“It must be admitted,” declares Forel, “that +Insects are capable of perceiving, of learning, +of recollecting, of associating their recollections +and of utilizing them to accomplish their +ends. They have various emotions and their +will is not purely instinctive, but offers individual +plastic modifications, adapted to circumstances.”</p> + +<p>Although many authorities are inclined to +think that Forel goes too far in his estimates +of Insect Intelligence, Bouvier’s⁠<a id="FNanchor_24_24" href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> extensive +studies have led him to practically the same +conclusions. He rejects Bethe’s claim that Insects +are mere reflex machines, because they +can adapt themselves to circumstances, acquire +new habits, learn to remember, and manifest +discernment.</p> + +<p>Comparing their organization with ours, McIndoo +concludes that Insects “have perhaps accomplished +more than we have.... Furthermore +some Insects, for example Honey Bees +and Plant-lice, have evolved methods for controlling +sex; this subject has probably puzzled +Man as much as life itself, yet Man can neither +control sex nor knows how to control it.... +Let us cease looking with scorn upon Insects.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p> + +<p>“We prize so highly all our own aptitudes +as to believe that they are unequalled, even when +inspired by the least commendable motives,” +says Bouvier. “Though bellicose ourselves, we +think it strange that beehives or ants-nests +should engage in warfare. At times we revert +to barbarism by reducing our enemies to +slavery, yet we exclaim with surprise at the +habits of slave-making Ants.”</p> + +<p>There is nowhere any distinct break in the +evolutionary series—no fundamental distinction +between the animal and the human mind. +Protoplasm is protoplasm, wherever found, and +mind is mind wherever it becomes manifest. +There can no more be two totally distinct and +fundamentally different kinds of mind than +there can be two or more totally distinct kinds +of protoplasm, one human, the other sub-human. +The Amœba and Man are both the product of +protoplasmic differentiation, and the primordial +protoplasmic cell embodied in its substance +all potentialities of Life and Mind upon this +planet.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_24_24" href="#FNanchor_24_24" class="label">[24]</a> Bouvier, E. L., “<i>La Vie Psychique des Insectes</i>,” +1918.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="tnote"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_note"> + Transcriber’s Note: + </h2> + +<p style="text-indent:0em;">The chapter “Horseshoe Crabs (Limulus)” was missing from the original table of contents, so it was re-added.</p> + +<p style="text-indent:0em;">Footnotes were moved to the ends of the chapters in which they appeared.</p> + +<p style="text-indent:0em;">Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.</p> + +<p style="text-indent:0em;">Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes:</p> + +<table class="autotable" style="margin:auto;"> + +<tbody> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Amoeba">13</a>: “we come to the Amoeba”</td> +<td class="tdl">“we come to the Amœba”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Cephalopods">19</a>: “highly organized Cephelapods”</td> +<td class="tdl">“highly organized Cephalopods”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#one">27</a>: “its post with o e”</td> +<td class="tdl">“its post with one”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#hole">29</a>: “through a tiny hold”</td> +<td class="tdl">“through a tiny hole”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Spider">31</a>: “establishing it the Spide”</td> +<td class="tdl">“establishing it the Spider”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Garrett">34</a>: “remarks Mr. Garret P. Serviss”</td> +<td class="tdl">“remarks Mr. Garrett P. Serviss”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Scolia">41</a>: “The Two-banded Scolla”</td> +<td class="tdl">“The Two-banded Scolia”</td> +</tr> + +</tbody></table> +</div> +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78604 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |