CHAPTER VI.

INSTINCT.

1. THERE is in many respects a great resemblance or analogy between man and other animals. Some animals exhibit marks of skill, sagacity, caution, or judgment; and, in many cases, the power of reasoning almost equal to human beings.

2. Some suppose that every animal possesses all the faculties with which man is endowed, only in a much more limited degree, modified by circumstances, but not guided by reason.

3. Whether this be correct or not, we know that animals show as many of these different talents as it is possible without having the intellect of man. Sometimes they appear to be guided by experience, observation, and even reason. However this may be, they are endowed with a principle that enables them to seek their food, build their habitations, and take care of their young, which is called INSTINCT. They have also the power to vary their means or course of action, in order to accomplish certain ends, when circumstances vary or require this change.

What is the subject of chapter sixth? 1. Is there any resemblance between man and other animals? What do some animals exhibit? 2. What is the opinion of some with regard to the faculties of man and human beings? 3. What certain knowledge have we respecting them? By what do they appear to be guided? With what are they endowed? What is this principle called? When can they vary their means of

action?

DIFFERENT KINDS G INSTINCTS.

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4. Instinct is that which prompts an animal to act, without teaching from others; to follow a certain course which is best adapted to his wants and condition.

5. The reason of man has been called a "bundle of instincts" yet there is a wide difference between the powers of men and animals. Man improves from one year to another; his knowledge is the result of experience, observation, and reflection.

6. The dwellings of man differ in different countries and ages, from the hut of the savage to the palace of the king; though man constructed both the hut and the palace.

Beavers build the same kind of houses now that they built many hundred years ago; and so of all other animals; there is no improvement from one generation to another; they always continue the same.

7. Smellie says there are two kinds of instincts; one kind which the animal can scarcely help obeying, without any instruction or experience; and a second kind by which they can accommodate themselves to peculiar situations. and can also improve by experience and observation.

8. I will relate some anecdotes to you, which illustrate these different instincts in some of the different animals; and though it may seem to you impossible that these are true, yet I shall mention none except those

4. What is instinct? 5. What has the reason of man been called? What difference is there between the powers of men and animals? 6. What is said of the dwellings of man in different ages? What is said of the houses of beavers in different ages? 7. How many kinds of instinct are there? What is the first kind? What is the second kind? 8. How can these different instincts be illustrated?

which I know to be true by having witnessed them myself, or those related to me by friends who have seen them, or those given by different physiologists as facts. So you may believe them all.

9. Young birds always open their mouths at every noise they hear, because they think it is their mother's voice, and that she is bringing them food. They do not use their wings till they have gained strength, and have observed in which way mother-birds use theirs.

10. Insects place their eggs in the most favorable situations for their young. All those whose young feed on vegetables place their eggs on plants. Those that always live in the water place their eggs on the surface of the water.

11. The wasp builds her nest, deposits her eggs in it, then brings just enough green worms, which she rolls together so that they cannot move, and then leaves them as nourishment for her young. She does not wish them as food for herself, but knows that they are the best nourishment for the little young wasps. Dr. Darwin relates a fact which he saw himself. A wasp caught a fly almost as large as her own size. She cut off its extremities and tried to fly away with the body, but found that on account of a slight breeze, the fly's wings impeded her own flight. She came to the ground, cut off first one and then another of the fly's wings with her mouth, and then flew away.

8. Will these anecdotes be true or false? From what sources are they derived? 9. What do young birds imagine every noise is? When do they use their wings? 10. Where do insects place their eggs? What kind are placed on plants? What kind are placed on the surface of the water? 11. How does the wasp provide for her young? Does she ever eat these worms? Why does she procure them? What anecdote does Dr Darwin relate of a wasp?

12. Bees exhibit a wonderful sagacity. They choose their queen, and then build their cells, which are very neatly and beautifully constructed. When they increase so much in number that the old hive is not large enough to contain them, they choose their queen, swarm, and seek a new home. If there is not room for all their operations, they increase the depth of their honey cells. Those who wish to find the honey of those bees which have strayed away in the woods, and have built their nests there, catch two bees, carry them to a distance, and then let them fly; each takes the straight line towards the nest or hive, and by observing these lines the hive may be found, in the direction where they cross each other.

13. Sometimes bees stray away and build their hives in the trunks of hollow trees. There was a large tree cut down in a certain place, and near the root a great many layers of honey were found; the bees had probably deposited their honey in it for many years. Bees are industrious insects, and will not permit any drones

those bees which will not work-to live with them, but they all assist each other.

14. The spider and many other insects exhibit a kind of singular instinct. If you touch a spider with your finger, he will run away as swiftly as he can; but if he finds that he cannot run in any direction, he draws his feet together, and lies perfectly motionless, feigning to

12. What sagacity do bees exhibit? When do bees "swarm?" What course do they take when their cells are not large enough? How can we find the honey of those bees who have strayed away into the woods? 13. Where do bees frequently build their hives? How has this fact been ascertained? What is one peculiarity of bees? What is meant by drones? 14. What particular instinct does the spider exhibit?

be dead; and if he be even torn by pins, he will not show the slightest degree of suffering.

15. Ants generally make their nests on the ground; but in Siam they build them on trees, because that country is often flooded with water, and people are obliged to build their houses on long poles.

16. There are some birds that always move to a warm climate as soon as winter approaches. They go at a particular time, and return again at a particular

season.

When birds have liberty to do as they please, they always build their nests of the same material—the same mud and straw, and in the same spot, year after year.

17. Sometimes they wholly change their mode of building, especially in those countries where snakes abound. The bird hangs its nest on the branch of the tree, and makes the opening to it at the bottom, so that should the snake crawl up the tree to the limb, it could not get into the nest to take the eggs.

18. There is a certain bird that has been seen to catch grasshoppers, and fasten them to the twigs of trees where the little birds were accustomed to come. Why do you think she did this? for she never eats them herself. The reason was this; her instinct taught her that little birds were fond of grasshoppers; and as she was very fond of little birds, she put them there

15. Where do ants build their nests? What is their custom in Siam ? For what purpose? What are people obliged to do there? 16. How does the climate affect birds? How do birds generally build their nests? 17. Do they ever change their mode of building? Where does this take place? How does the bird endeavor to avoid the snake? 18. What is the custom of a particular kind of bird? Explain why she does this'.