'' Struck Blind:' 187 



an event " that Nature had not thought it worth while 

 to do anything ! After that, the friends and followers 

 of Mr. Romanes may not find it so very difficult to 

 follow him. 



Were I here to go into other cases, I might cite 

 the instinct of curiosity about ant-lion holes on the 

 part of certain ants, which seems to me to be all in 

 favour of the ant-hons, and not at all in favour of the 

 ants. 



In fact, the whole realm of parasitism, alike in 

 flowers and plants, in insects and in birds, presents an 

 almost unexampled unexceptional argument against 

 Darwinism, and a complete answer to Mr. Romanes' 

 challenge. We read : 



"The social Hymenoptera — ants, bees, wasps — 

 well provided with weapons as they are, neither have 

 the sense to exterminate their enemies, nor do they 

 seem even to recognise them. In the presence of 

 their habitual parasites, these insects, in other re- 

 spects so sagacious, seem to be struck blind." ''' 



Surely here we have an instinct which actually 

 becomes protective, passively if not actively, and 

 which is in favour absolutely of the protected species, 

 and has no benefit or compensation from the pro- 

 tected for those which protect. 



Then there is the sacculina and the crab, which, 

 by the presence of sacculina, is rendered sterile — 

 utterly sterile, whether male or female. In the 

 female where the tail is segmented and flexible, that 

 tail, which had hitherto protected its own eggs, now 

 protects only the sacculina, while in the male the tail 

 (which is normally segmented without being really 



* M assart, p. 71. 



