Flocks, 139 



of life. And in some communities of Ants, the in 

 dividuals of another species are needed to make the 

 system perfect. That is, the first species could not 

 exist at all were it not that their Instinct enables 

 them to supplement their own defects by making 

 slaves of individuals from other species able to do 

 their work for them. We announced in the begin- 

 ning of these lectures that we should make no at- 

 tempt to collect and rehearse the wonders of In- 

 stinct. Our object is to bring up for consideration 

 those examples of instinctive action known to every 

 Naturalist, or such as all persons may see if they 

 choose to. We are therefore compelled to refer 

 briefly to points that might be illustrated by many 

 examples. 



There are among animals certain instincts that 

 either grow out of the relation of the sexes or are 

 indirectly connected with it. Thus we have the 

 flock or brood for a single season, or so long as the 

 young need the parents' care. This Instinct is an 

 entirely different thing from that which prevails in 

 the community proper, which ministers to the good 

 both of the individual and of the species, not 

 through any relation of the sexes or of parents to 

 their young necessarily, but by the organization of 

 a complex community of adults that may have no 

 relationship to each other except that they belong 

 to the same species. The simplest form of such 

 communities is found among common birds and 

 beasts that associate in flocks. These, as Sheep, 

 Antelopes, Crows and Pigeons, might do very well 

 as individuals ; and a single pair can, not only, care 



