rACKARu.] MENTAL POWERS OF INSECTS. 3G3 



before the London Entomological Society, 1868.) But be- 

 sides all this we know that ants engage in sports, that they 

 wrestle and toss each other about in a playful wa}^, as evi- 

 dently so as that young dogs or cats play with one another. 

 Insects of all animals, must experience pleasure or pain in 

 accordance with extremes of cold or heat. They play only 

 when stimulated by the rays of a hot sun. 



Bees, as Lubbock observes, have a variable temper. 

 " Generally they allowed me to handle them without an}^ 

 sign of irritation ; while at other times, without an}'^ reason 

 which I could discover, the}^ stung me sometimes several 

 times in a day ; they seemed the more prone to do so the 

 hotter the weather." 



If it were not for their sensitiveness to pleasure and pain, 

 the instinct of self-preservation, so powerful with animals, 

 and which would cease to operate unless their will-force was 

 strongly developed, would cease to be exerted. Kant's 

 expression,* " Pleasure is the feeling of the furtherance, 

 pain of the hindrance of life," applies to insects as well 

 as men. Tiie fact that insects must at times enjoy a warm 

 sunny day, that they have what we call animal spirits, is 

 a proof that they have not only feelings and will, but 

 possess intelligence and, possibly, in a slight degree self- 

 consciousness. 



Having seen that insects have acute sensibilities, that they 

 see, hear, smell and feel witli sudicient acutcness to enable 

 them to maintain their existence, we have the foundations 

 laid b}' wliich their will may operate. That insects have a 

 certain amount of will-force, that they can act with energ}' 

 and decision when their feelings are shocked, that when 

 pleasurable sensations arise they indulge those emotions for 

 a longer or shorter time, seems to be susceptible of proof. 



Now granted that insects have sensibilities and will, how 



♦Quoted by Mr. ]5ain in lii.s " INIinil and ISody," Aiipleton'd lutcrnational Sei- 

 entiflc Series. 



11 



