72 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



which came into existence. This might seem an inquiry of so 

 purely speculative a character as to be valueless for scientific 

 purposes, but a little reflection will show it to be otherwise. 

 The animals now existing are physically the products of long 

 series of ancestors, and owe their bodily structure either to 

 the modifications which their predecessors underwent from 

 the influence of their surroundings, or to the vitality which 

 enabled them to more or less successfully withstand that 

 influence. 



Now, whatever view we may take of the nature of the 

 animal mind, it evidently bears a very intimate relation to 

 the animal's bodily structure, which, in its turn, depends 

 upon the animal's manner of life. For example, all beasts of 

 prey are of a fierce and cruel disposition. They are daily 

 engaged in slaughter, and frequently in struggles in wdiich 

 they must either kill or be themselves either killed or injured. 

 They cannot procure a meal without destroying some other 

 creature. It is impossible for the milder qualities of mind to 

 develope under such circumstances. Courage, ferocity, wari- 

 ness, and cunning become prominent features in the animal's 

 disposition, while considerable powers of strategy are often 

 evoked. Thus, Sir E. Tennant, in his " Natural History of 

 Ceylon," writes, " At dusk and after nightfall a pack of 

 jackals, having watched a hare or a small deer take refuge 

 in one of these retreats, immediately surround it on all 

 sides; and, having stationed a few to watch the path by 

 wdiich the game entered, the leader commences the attack by 

 raising the cry peculiar to their race, and which resembles 

 the sound ' okkay ' loudly and rapidly repeated. The whole 

 party then rush into the jungle and drive out the victim, 

 which generally falls into the ambush previously laid to 

 entrap it." How strikingly different are the mental disposi- 

 tions of animals of this kind from those of many birds, which 

 manifest a gay and lively temperament, seeking amusement 

 in song or dance, or even, like the bower birds, in construct- 

 ing bowers and playhouses, adorned with gaily coloured 

 feathers, shells, and other articles, in which to disport them- 

 selves. Equally unlike are their bodily frames, which, in 

 either case, are fitted for the animal's daily pursuits. The 

 body of the beast of prey is constructed strongly enough to 

 enable it to hold its own in the desperate struggles in which 

 it is constantly engaged, while the song-bird, on the other 

 hand, possesses a lightly formed body, which seems to be the 

 physical expression of its gay and volatile mind. Hence the 

 fossil remains of extinct animals, while teaching us the nature 

 of their bodily structure, also enable us to deduce infei'ences 

 of much importance concerning their mental endowments. 



There are four aspects in which the apparently intelligent 



