CHAPTER X 



THE IGNORANCE OF INSTINCT 



THE Sphex has shown us how infaUibly 

 and with what transcendental art she 

 acts when guided by the unconscious inspira- 

 tion of her instinct; she is now going to show 

 us how poor she is in resource, how limited 

 in intelligence, how illogical even, in circum- 

 stances outside of her regular routine. By 

 a strange inconsistency, characteristic of the 

 instinctive faculties, profound wisdom is 

 accompanied by an ignorance no less pro- 

 found. To instinct nothing is impossible, 

 however great the difficulty may be. In 

 building her hexagonal cells, with their floors 

 consisting of three lozenges, the Bee solves 

 with absolute precision the arduous problem 

 of how to achieve the maximum result at a 

 minimum cost, a problem whose solution by 

 man would demand a powerful mathematical 

 mind. The Wasps whose larvae live on prey 

 display in their murderous art methods hardly 

 rivalled by those of a man versed in the in- 

 tricacies of anatomy and physiology. No- 

 i88 



