in the Tax and other Animals. 571 



eye, but again close it instantly, if rocked to and fro. I ima- 

 gine there are few but must have occasionally observed the 

 same in the common sparrow. 



Dr. Weissenborn remarks of the elater, that " the rigid 

 and immovable position is, at the same time, that which ena- 

 bles it to take its leap ;" but readily granting this, in the in- 

 stance of that particular group, the same cannot be asserted 

 of numerous other Coleoptera, which exhibit the same pheno- 

 menon, much less of the various moths (Noctuidae, &c.) in 

 which it is equally observable. The former, indeed, will even 

 endure to be torn limb from limb, without manifesting signs 

 of life ; and the same is noticeable in most spiders* 



Whether either of the cases here particularised of the fox 

 simulating death can be accounted for as an experimental 

 essay on the part of Reynard*, founded on observation and 

 reflection, which would imply a degree of mental acumen cer- 

 tainly far beyond what I am disposed to give it credit for, 

 notwithstanding the many undoubted proofs of its exercising 

 (in common with others of the higher animals, which are ne- 

 cessitated to circumvent their prey) a decided reasoning 

 faculty, wherewith to modify and refine upon its instinctive 

 wiles, and to profit by remarking coincidences and sequences, 

 but certainly not to trace causes, or, indeed, in any way to 

 extend its speculations beyond the sphere of its immediate 

 requirements ; or whether the stratagem be not as purely in- 

 stinctive as in the American opossum ; must, I suppose, remain a 

 matter of opinion, though analogy would certainly much rather 

 indicate the latter to be the truth. Let it be remembered, that 

 such proof of rationality, supposing it to be so, argues a know- 

 ledge of self, — that is to say, an identification of the me as the 

 same in kind with the lifeless, or even living, bodies that had 

 been observed, — which we must pause before we venture to 

 award to ought inferior to the human race. One of the most 

 admired definition ssuggested by the fertile genius of Linnaeus 

 is that of man, as a " self-knowing animal," which, hitherto, 

 I have seen no reason to call in question ; for even admitting 

 that an inferior being had observed and remembered the 

 decease of its companion, and had meditated on this so as to 

 anticipate the future loss of another, which is allowing a 

 very great deal, it surely does not by any means hence follow 

 that it should apply the observation to its own case, and reason 

 that itself should in like manner one day cease to be : more- 

 over, it is least of all likely that it should avail itself, calmly 

 and collectedly, of this acquired knowledge in a sudden mo- 

 ment of emergency, when taken by surprise, on which occa- 



* See p. 513. 



