The Psychology of ''Playing 'Possum" 51 



of modern students of tlie subject look ui)on it as merely 

 a remarkable instinct. 



Surely no one who is acquainted with how slowly the 

 ant-lion recovers from injuries could, for a moment, con- 

 sider anything intellectual which induces it to passively 

 submit to i)ortions of its legs and of its mandibles being 

 amputated. Its Ictisimulation may l)e an emotiomil re- 

 sponse, but it certainly is not intellectual. The tonic con- 

 traction of the muscles and the diminished reflex irrita- 

 bility suggest hypnotic ])henomena and lead one to agree 

 with Holmes (Pop. Sci. Mon., 1908, Vol. l.XXri, pp. 

 179-185) that "the instinct of feigning death is doubtless 

 connected with much of w^hat has been called hy})notism 

 in the lower animals." It is well known that most ani- 

 mals pause momentarily when confronted with an unex- 

 pected or violent stimulus. The letisimulation of the 

 ant-lion seems such a pause prolonged and exaggerated. 

 The more I ponder over the results of my experiments 

 with death-feigning ant-lions, the more I am inclined to 

 exclaim with James : " It really is no feigning of death at 

 all and requires no self command. It is simply terror 

 paralysis which has been so useful as to l>ecome heredi- 

 tary." 



I am fullv convinced that a careful examination of the 

 writings of recent experimenters upon letisimulating in- 

 sects will convince any unbiased person that the above 

 explanation is valid for all members of that group. Can 

 this same interpretation be given to the numerous appar- 

 ently authentic anecdotes about death-feigning mammals? 

 Let us consider three typical ones selected from Romanes 

 "Mental Evolution in Animals": 



''It so happened that, while puss was reclining at ease, 

 seemingly inattentive to all the world around her, a 

 weasel came unexpected up, was seized in a moment, and 



