30 THE SOCIAL LIFE OF ANIMALS 



social traits from which, given the proper opportu- 

 nity, society readily emerges. Wheeler, no less than 

 Espinas, from whom he quotes, emphasizes that even 

 so-called solitary species of animals are of necessity 

 more or less co-operative members of associations of 

 animals and that animals not only compete among 

 themselves but they also co-operate with each other 

 to secure mates and insure greater safety. 



It did not, however, make for the full acceptance 

 of these ideas that Wheeler drew his illustrative 

 material primarily from, and based his conclusions 

 mainly on, his knowledge of social life among in- 

 sects. The existence of co-operation among nest 

 mates in ants and bees does not prove that there are 

 beginnings of co-operative processes among amoebae 

 and other greatly generalized animals. 



Man and the few species of highly social insects 

 are a small part of the animal kingdom; in order 

 to discover and distinguish the principles of general 

 sociology it is necessary to look farther, to focus 

 attention on the social and anti-social relationships 

 of many animals usually regarded as lacking social 

 life. 



With and without this end in view there have 

 been in the last twenty years simultaneous but inde- 

 pendent outbreaks of experimentation on group 

 effects among the lower animals. For a time just 



