PSYCHIC LIFE OF INSECTS — BOUVIER. 453 



no doubt, a certain instinctive and profound feeling of dread im- 

 parted by these beings so incomparably better armed and equipped 

 than ourselves, these containers as it were of compressed energy and 

 activity which we vaguely feel to be our most mysterious enemies, our 

 final competitors, and perhaps our survivors." 



Everything concerning these animals is surprising, even when, in 

 the present stage of their mental evolution, they seem to come near 

 us and to engage in activities, such as we frequently observe among 

 the social species, which might well be considered as human. We are 

 perplexed at the foresight of harvesting ants, at the care other ants 

 take of their herds of 'plant lice, at the horticultural skill of the 

 fungus-growing species and at the specialization of labor which 

 reduces certain workers among the Myrmecocysts to the condition of 

 honey-pots. We prize so highly all our own aptitudes as to believe 

 that they are unequaled, even when inspired by the least commend- 

 able motives. Though bellicose ourselves, we think it strange that 

 beehives or ants-nests should engage in warfare. At times we re- 

 vert to barbarism by reducing our enemies to slavery, yet we exclaim 

 with surprise at the habits of slave-making ants. 



It is the fact that these wonderful analogies are well calculated to 

 emphasize the contrast between the world of the Articulates and our 

 own. We feel that the psychic evolution of these animals is no less 

 peculiar than their structure, and that they are never so widely 

 separated from us as when they appear to resemble us most closely. 

 The old anthropocentric school has passed away; we no longer at- 

 tempt to understand insects by comparing them to man, we rather 

 try to grasp the mechanism that allows these animals to evolve men- 

 tally and to develop modes of action which appear human. 



Such was our object in writing this book. The sources from which 

 we could draw in compiling this work were numerous, but we. have 

 not made use of them all, because many are lacking in the required 

 scientific accuracy. Moreover, ever since the work of Loeb and Jen- 

 nings research in animal psychology has been directed along a 

 fruitful path, where we ourselves were happy to follow the foot- 

 steps of these biologists and their many disciples, such as Bohn, 

 Pieron, Rouband, Turner, etc. Much attention has been paid also 

 to the work of biological observers from Reaumur (Memoires pour 

 servir a l'histoire des Insectes) to Fabre (Souvenirs Entomologiques) , 

 where abundant information may be gleaned on every page. In 

 this company, where France occupies such an honorable place, we 

 wish to call especial attention to Commander Ferton, whose work is 

 remarkably rich and exact. To my dear pupil, George Bohn, special 

 acknowledgment is due for the value of his numerous papers and 

 for the originality of his two books, "Naissance de lTntelligence," 

 136650°— 20 30 



