Reflections upon Insect Psychology- 

 conforming it to the needs of the accidental. 

 Within these limits, are animals capable of 

 reasoning? Are they able to connect a "be- 

 cause" with a "why" and afterwards to regu- 

 late their behaviour accordingly? Are they 

 able to change their line of conduct when 

 faced with an emergency? 



History has but few data likely to be of use 

 to us here; and those which we find scattered 

 in various authors are seldom able to with- 

 stand a severe examination. One of the most 

 remarkable of which I know is supplied by 

 Erasmus Darwin, in his book entitled Zoo- 

 nom'ia. It tells of a Wasp that has just caught 

 and killed a big Fly. The wind is blowing, 

 and the huntress, hampered in her flight by 

 the great area presented by her prize, alights 

 on the ground to amputate the abdomen, the 

 head and the wings; she flies away, carrying 

 with her only the thorax, which gives less hold 

 to the wind. If we keep to the bald facts, this 

 does, I admit, give a semblance of reason. 

 The Wasp appears to grasp the relation be- 

 tween cause and effect. The effect is the re- 

 sistance experienced in the flight; the cause is 

 the dimensions of the prey contending with 

 the air. Hence the logical conclusion: those 

 i6i 



