320 On Animal Instinct: in its Relation to the Mind of Man, 



for some time, determined to make the most of the present oppor- 

 tunity. After getting fairly into the swamp, the Doctor suddenly 

 paused under a mangrove, and called my attention to the top of the 

 tree. On the branches were most beautiful flowers in full bloom. 

 These are known as Orchids, or air plants. There were two species. 

 They simply cling to the bark with their tough fibrous roots, and pre- 

 sent a very novel appearance. They were not confined to mangroves, 

 but occur on other trees. On further examination we found many 

 hundreds. This sight was alone worth all our trouble. The Doctor 

 proceeded to climb a mangrove, and had gone up some ten feet, when 

 I warned him to look out for hornets, as I saw one fly out of the foliage 

 of a plant. This being followed by several more, made him exclaim 

 that he believed there were hornets around. A fact that I was ready 

 to affirm, when down came my friend in a manner more rapid and 

 emphatic than graceful. Having beat a retreat to a safer position we 

 secured as many specimens as we wanted, and pursued our way 

 through the swamp. At last I climbed a tree, and seeing no end to the 

 same unvarying prospect, we worked our way back to the coast, and 

 went on board the vessel. 



Of the air-plants, which I brought safely home, one proves to be 

 Epidendrum conopseum, (Ait.) The other has not been determined. 



On Aniynal Instinct: in its Relation to the Mind of Man. By the Duke 



OF Argyll, 



The very old question whether animals are " automata" was raised 

 by Professor Huxley in the Fortnightly Review for November, 1874. 

 It has been since pursued here in successive papers of much ability by 

 Dr. Carpenter and Mr. Mivart. I find myself in partial agreement 

 sometimes with one, sometimes with another of these writers, and yet 

 on some important matters dissenting from them all. Approaching 

 the subject from a diflTerent point of view,. I cannot better explain the 

 aspect in which this question presents itself to me than by discussing it 

 in connection vnth certain exhibitions of animal instinct which I had 

 occasion to observe during the spring and summer of last ye'ar. They 

 were not uncommon cases. On the contrary they were of a kind of 

 which the whole world is full. But not the less directly did they 

 suggest all the problems under discussion, and not the less forcibly did 

 they strike me with the admiration and the wonder which no famil- 

 iar it v can exhaust. 



