MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 193 



meot, as in man we find the final and most important link of the Verte- 

 brate series. 



It would seem more reasonable that the highest endorsement of 

 this nature should occur among the animals whose physical constitu 

 tion most closely resembles that of man, but as a matter of fact this is 

 far from being the case. In these, the rudiments of reason, perhaps, 

 nullify, to some extent, the promptings of pure instinct, and render 

 them far less ingenious and provident in the exercise of mechanical skill, 

 and in wise provision concerning their own future and that of their 

 descendants, than the insensate moth which flits about our lamp, or the 

 bee that takes toll of nectar and pollen from our gardens. 



It must be borne in mind that the supreme object of existence of 

 every individual of the animal creation is to perpetuate its kind, and it 

 is therefore in the execution of this duty that we are offered the most 

 marvelous illustrations, not only of instinctive knowledge and skill, but 

 also of qualities that are the analogues of industry, perseverance, 

 patience and self-sacrifice. 



Human reason cannot grasp the exquisite development of that 

 inherent knowledge which leads the tiny moth to place her eggs upon 

 a particular species of oak, and upon no other, as the one exactly 

 suited to the needs of her microscopic progeny, or impels the cynips 

 or psyllid to unerringly select the one tree in a thousand upon which 

 her punctures will produce her characteristic gall. And yet the know- 

 ledge of these winged atoms is so dependable that in many cases the 

 finding of a peculiar mine or gall has decided for me the species of a 

 tree or other plant about which I had been in doubt. It is mainly in 

 solitary insects of the sorts referred to, and which are restricted for 

 their food to a single species or a single group of plants, that we find 

 this remarkable botanical accuracy. Among these too we find the rare 

 instances of absolute interdependence of plant and insect, so per- 

 fectly illustrated by the Yucca plant and its pollenator, Promiha, con- 

 cerning whose almost incredible habits. Dr. Riley, Profs. Trelease, 

 Weber, and others, have published such interesting accounts. 



It is a highly suggestive fact that the most varied aud intricate 

 expression of instinct is found not only among social insects, but 

 in all the truly social species of the lower animals — the necessarily 

 close contact and association acting as stimuli to the highest mental 

 and physical effort. Even in merely gregarious species we discover 

 some traces of individual superiority and of mutual dependence ; but 

 it is in the liliputian commonwealth of bees, wasps, ants and termes 

 that we find the perfection of instinctiv.e socialism and altruism. 



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