354 HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 



what is the kiiicl of mind possessed by animals ; have they 

 a slight degree of reasoning power ; are they in some degree 

 free agents? And how did the instincts, which all agree they 

 possess, originate? We shall attempt to answer these ques- 

 tions, speaking on this occasion simply in behalf of the 

 insects. As to the domestic animals, the horse, dog and 

 others, which by association with man have undergone a 

 certain amount of education, there are few people exercising 

 their perceptive and reasoning faculties, who do not ascribe 

 to these animals a degree of reasoning power, which they do 

 not confound with their ordinary instinctive acts. 



Confining our attention to the insects, let us in an unprej- 

 udiced way examine this matter and ascertain what faculties 

 resembling those of man they possess. Our conclusions will 

 have a degree of uncertainty, and be based mainly on proba- 

 bilit}'', so that there is little occasion for dogmatism. Our 

 space is not extended, and in laboring to be brief we may 

 seem, but not intentionally, to be dogmatic. 



Those who observe the ways of insects have noticed their 

 extreme sensitiveness to external impressions ; that their mo- 

 tions are ordinarily rapid and nervous. Look at the ichneu- 

 mon fly as it alights on a leaf near a caterpillar. With what 

 rapid motions it walks and flies about ; how swiftly its feelers 

 vibrate, how briskly it walks up and down surveying its vic- 

 tim. Look at a mud wasp as it alights near a pool of water 

 to moisten its mouth. How nervous are its motions, how 

 nimbly it flies and runs about the edge of the water. The 

 ant is a busy, active, dapper little creature, a nervous brusque- 

 ness pervading its movements. How susceptible insects are 

 to the light may be tested on a damp, dark night by opening 

 the windows. In dart a legion of insects of all sorts, each 

 with a different mode of entrance, some beetle boldly flying 

 about the room in its blundering, noisy flight, or a Clisio- 

 campa moth enters with a bound and series of somersaults 

 over the table like the entree of a popular clown into the 



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