INSTINCT IN INSECTS. 13 



to the duties of his post to make a course of connected studies upon 

 the animals committed to his charge : he thought, as Geoffroy Saint- 

 Hilaire did, that such is the sole purpose of establishments of that kind. 

 li There exists in animals," Cuvier tells us, " a faculty distinct from intel- 

 ligence, which we term instinct. It makes them do acts which each in- 

 dividual performs without ever having seen them done, and which are 

 repeated, from generation to generation, invariably the same. Without 

 having learned, the animal knows ; it knows from its birth, and knows 

 so well, that it never makes a mistake, even in acts of extreme complex- 

 ity, the secret of which it seems to bring with it into the world. Young 

 ducks hatched under a hen go straight to the nearest piece of water, 

 and boldly plunge and swim, in spite of their foster-mother's cries and 

 distress. The squirrel lays up its winter stock of hazel-nuts and fil- 

 berts ; before it knows what winter is. The shepherd's dog and the 

 pointer know how to do the duties expected of them, through a gift 

 at birth. The bird hatched in a cage and reared a captive, if set free, 

 will build a nest like that its parents built, on the same tree, of the 

 same materials, in the same shape. The spider, more amazing still, 

 weaves without any lessons the geometric net-work of its web ; and 

 the untaught bee builds its comb. Man too has his instinct, as animals 

 have. By instinct the new-born child feels for and finds its mother's 

 breast ; but instinctive phenomena in man are less easy to determine, 

 and their discovery demands careful research, because intelligence 

 usually veils them. And yet intelligence is not wanting in animals 

 either, only with them instinct has that predominance which intelli- 

 gence takes in man." 



With the exception of a few mistakes in details, Cuvier marked 

 very accurately the line between the instinctive and the intellectual 

 faculties, but he went no further. His character and disposition gave 

 him but little taste for penetrating into problems of that kind. With a 

 lofty disdain to which posterity has done justice, he left to his rival 

 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire the care of inquiring into the origins of vital 

 manifestations. Cuvier affirmed simply that every species received 

 at its beginning a certain share of intelligence, with a certain provi- 

 sion of instinct, so wisely proportioned as to insure the permanence of 

 that species till the end of time, or at least till the next revolution in 

 our globe. The intelligent race does its part with its faculties as it 

 can ; they must suffice for it. The race without intelligence, to make 

 up for its want, brings into the world a supply of instinct which aids 

 it to make its way. This odd theory of compensation, instinct and 

 intellectual faculties respectively complementing each othei", misled 

 Cuvier ; it agreed with the general scope of his doctrine ; but it does 

 not agree with facts. Those among animals that present the most 

 highly-developed instinct are, unquestionably, the insects ; the silky 

 tissues of cocoons, the structures wrought by wasps, the beautiful 

 works that are treasured in cabinets, bear witness to astonishing in- 



