INSTINCT. 503 



traveller observed Gymnopleurus pilularius prepare its ball of dung. 

 This ball happened by accident to fall into a hole whence the insect 

 could not remove it by all its exertions. It therefore apparently gave 

 it np, but speedily returned Avith three comrades, and their united 

 labours succeeded in accomplishing it. This instance is so remarkable, 

 that we might be inclined to doubt its veracity were it solitary, but 

 those above communicated are so analogous, that we cannot help consi- 

 dering it as true. They therefore prove that insects possess the power of 

 communicating their objects to their fellows without the intervention 

 of language, and that the imparting of determined objects must be 

 classed with the qualities of insect instinct. We have thus found four 

 important functions which are considered as the qualities of the human 

 soul to exist even in insects. 



286. 



If we now survey the "several phases of the instinct of insects, we 

 shall iind that all refer either to the preservation of the individual or 

 to the conservation of the species, and, consequently, stand in close 

 connexion either with the several functions of insects, to provide 

 themselves with subsistence, or with the suitable depositing of their 

 eggs, the provision of their young, and their undisturbed development, 

 &c. Between these two groups other phenomena present themselves 

 which refer to both, we mean their connexion in large societies, which 

 is peculiar to certain species, and which precisely furnish us with the 

 most animated and comprehensive picture of the several intellectual 

 activities of which insects are capable. We will, therefore, more closely 

 inspect these chief functions of the instinct of insects, and, in the first 

 place, those referring to self-preservation ; then those referable to the 

 conservation of the species ; and, lastly, the societies and unions which 

 have been observed in certain genera and species. 



