II.] ON HEREDITY. 93 



mung,' Schneider^), of the same kind as those which incite to 

 the instinct of flight — an instinct which had been previously 

 developed in past ages but had never been called forth by 

 man ? Again, has any one ascertained whether the j'^oung 

 birds of the second or third generation are frightened by man ? 

 Maj^ it not be that the experience of a single life-time plays a 

 great part in the origin of the habit ? For my part, I am 

 inclined to believe that the habit of flying from man is de- 

 veloped in the first generation which encounters him as a foe ^. 

 We see how wary and cautious a flock of birds become as soon 

 as a few shots have been fired at them, and yet shortly before 

 this occurrence they were perhaps playing carelessly close to 

 the sportsmen. Intelligence plays a considerable part in the 

 life of birds, and it by no means follows that the transmission 

 of. individual habits explains the above-mentioned phenomena. 

 The long-continued operation of natural selection may very 

 well have been necessary before the perception of man could 

 awake the instinct to flee in young, inexperienced birds. Un- 

 fortunately the observations upon these points are far too 

 indefinite to enable us to draw conclusions. 



There is again the frequently-quoted instance of the young 

 pointer, 'which, untrained, and without any example which 

 might have been imitated, pointed at a lizard in a subtropical 

 jungle, just as many of its forefathers had pointed at partridges 

 on the plain of St. Denis,' and which, without knowing the 

 effect of a shot, sprang forward barking, at the first discharge, 

 to bring in the game. This conduct must not be attributed to 

 the inheritance of any mental picture, such as the effect of a 

 shot, but to the inheritance of a certain reflex mechanism. 

 The young pointer does not spring forward at the shot because 

 he has inherited from his forefathers a certain association of 

 ideas,— shot and game,— but because he has inherited a reflex 



' Compare ' Der thierische Wille,' Leipzig, 1880. 



- Steller's interesting account of the Sea-cow Rhyiiiia Slcllcti) proves 

 that this suggestion is valid. This large mammal was living in great 

 numbers in Behring Strait at the end of the last century, but has since 

 been entirely exterminated by man. Steller, who was compelled by 

 shipwreck to remain in the locality for a whole year, tells us that the 

 animals were at first without any fear of man, so that they could be 

 approached in boats and could thus be killed. After a few months how- 

 ever the sur\-ivors became wary, and did not allow Steller's men to 

 approach them, so that they were difficult to catch. — A. W., 1888. 



