16 



INSTINCT. 



have every reason to believe that no other ani- 

 mal can reflect on the possession of power in 

 the abstract, or indulge in the imagination of 

 scenes in which it is to be exerted, or rejoice 

 in the acquisition of wealth of any kind, as 

 the means of exercising power and procuring 

 pleasure, independently of the actual enjoy- 

 ment of them ; but many of the practical 

 exemplifications of this desire come into direct 

 comparison with, and probably involve feelings 

 very similar to, the instincts of animals. Thus 

 the pleasure which men feel in exerting power 

 over the elements around them may be seen, in 

 the case of children, to be prior to the expe- 

 rience of any practical advantage from the arts 

 of architecture, of mechanics, or of navigation ; 

 and it may be confidently asserted, that but for 

 this pleasure attending the exercise of those arts 

 (and which may be supposed to be very similar 

 to that which animates the beaver, the bird, or 

 the ant in their respective labours,) they could 

 never have been prosecuted with success. So 

 also the pleasure which man in all ages has felt 

 both in hunting and destroying animals, and 

 also in acquiring dominion over them and sub- 

 jecting them to his power, is clearly quite 

 different from the anticipation of the useful 

 purposes to which, whether dead or living, they 

 may be applied, and appears precisely similar, 

 both in its nature and in its object or final 

 cause, to some of the instincts of animals. 



Indeed, in conformity to what has been 

 already said of the essential peculiarities of the 

 human intellect, it is only those motives to 

 action which imply the previous formation of 

 general notions or abstract ideas, that we can 

 regard as peculiar to man ; and we may accord- 

 ingly state that the desire of knowledge (we 

 may even say more specifically, of scientific 

 knowledge, ' rerum cognoscere causas ) and the 

 sense of obligation religious and moral, are 

 the motives to action which we believe to be 

 truly peculiar to the human race. 



The most important instinct of animals refer- 

 able to this head, clearly and strongly felt like- 

 wise by man, (although combined in his case 

 with many other feelings,) is the instinct of 

 congregation. More or less of the desire of 

 society is seen in a greafl majority of animals; 

 but we may refer to this head many actions of 

 animals, wherein many individuals of the same 

 species cooperate, of which the object is in 

 many instances still obscure, but to which the 

 animals are impelled with an energy, and fre 

 quently a self-devotion, attesting the strength 

 of the mental feeling, and completely super- 

 seding their usual habits. Messrs. Spence and 

 Kirby enumerate not less than five kinds of 

 association of insects to form what they term 

 imperfect societies. 



" The first of these associations (for the sake 

 of company only) consists chiefly of insects in 

 their perfect state. The little beetles called 

 whirlwigs, which may be seen clustering in 

 groups under warm banks in every river and 

 every pool, wheeling round and round with 

 great velocity, at your approach dispersing 

 and diving under water, but as soon as you 

 retire resuming their accustomed movements, 



seem to be under the influence of the social 

 principle, and to form their assemblies for no 

 other purpose than to enjoy together in the sun- 

 beam the mazy dance. Impelled by the same 

 feeling, in the very depth of winter, even when 

 the earth is covered with snow, the tribes of 

 Tipulidtf (usually but improperly called gnats) 

 assemble in sheltered situations at mid-day 

 where the sun shines, and form themselves into 

 choirs that alternately rise and fall with rapid 

 evolutions. 



" Another association is that of males during 

 the season of pairing. Of this nature seems 

 to be that of the cockchafer and fernchafer, 

 which, at certain periods of the year and hours 

 of the day, hover over the summits of the trees 

 and hedges like swarms of bees. 



" The males of another root-devouring beetle 

 (Hoplia argentea, F.) assemble by myriads 

 before noon in the meadows, when in these 

 infinite hosts you will not find a single female. 

 " The next description of insect associations 

 is of those that congregate for the purpose of 

 travelling or emigrating together. De Geer has 

 given an account of the larvae of certain gnats 

 (Tipulte, L.) which assemble in considerable 

 numbers for this purpose, so as to form a band 

 of a finger's breadth, and of one or two yards 

 in length. And what is remarkable, while 

 upon their march, which is very slow, they 

 adhere to each other by a kind of glutinous 

 secretion. 



" Kuhn mentions another of the Tipulida, 

 the larvas of which live in society and emigrate 

 in files. 



" But of insect emigrants none are more 

 celebrated than the locusts, which, when arrived 

 at their perfect state, assemble in such numbers 

 as in their flight to intercept the sun-beams and 

 to darken whole countries, passing from one 

 region to another, and laying waste kingdom 

 after kingdom. 



" The same tendency to shift their quarters 

 has been observed in our little indigenous 

 devourers, the Aphides. 



" It is the general opinion in Norfolk, 

 Mr. Marshall informs us, that the saw-fly 

 ( Tenthredo) comes from over sea. A farmer 

 declared he saw them arrive in clouds so as to 

 darken the air; the fishermen asserted that 

 they had repeatedly seen flights of them pass 

 over their heads when they were at a distance 

 from land, and on the beach and cliffs they 

 were in such quantities that they might have 

 been taken up by shovels full. Three miles in- 

 land they were described as resembling swarms 

 of bees. 



" It is remarkable that of the emigrating 

 insects here enumerated, the majority, for in- 

 stance the Libellulae, the Coccinellee, Carabi, 

 Cicadoe, &c. are not usually social insects, but 

 seem to congregate, like swallows, merely for 

 the purpose of emigration. 



" The next order of imperfect associations 

 is that of those insects which feed together. 



" Two populous tribes, the great devastators 

 of the vegetable world, the one in warm and 

 the other in cold climates, to which 1 have 

 already alluded under the head of emigrations, 



