IMPERFECTION OF INSTINCT. 175 



the males do work (cliiefly domestic work, for which they are 

 led by their foraging sisters) ; so it is possible tliat in the 

 hive-bee the drones were originally useful members of the 

 community, and that they have lost their primitively useful 

 instincts. But Avliatever the explanation, it is very curious 

 that here, among the animals which are justly regarded as 

 exhibiting the highest perfection of instinct, we meet with ' 

 perhaps the most Hagrant instance in the animal kingdom of 

 instinct unperfected. It is the more remarkable that the 

 drone-killing instinct should not have been better developed 

 in the direction of killing the drones at the most profitable 

 time — namely, in their larval or oval state — from the fact 

 that in many respects it seems to have been developed to a 

 high degree of discriminative refinement." 



And, to take only one other illustration, Mr. Spalding 

 writes : — 



" Another suggestive class of phenomena that fell under 

 my notice may be described as imperfect instincts. When a 

 week old my turkey came on a bee right in its path — the 

 first, I believe, it had ever seen. It gave the danger chirr, 

 stood for a few seconds with outstretched neck and marked 

 expression of fear, then turned off' in another direction. On 

 this hint I made a vast number of experiments with chickens 

 and bees. In the great majority of instances the chickens 

 gave evidence of instinctive fear of these sting-bearing insects ; 

 but the results were not uniform, and perhaps the most 

 accurate general statement I can give is, that they were un- 

 certain, shy, and suspicious. Of course to be stung once was 

 enough to confirm their misgivings for ever. Pretty much in 

 the same way did they avoid ants, especially when swarming 

 in great numbers." 



Similarly, and daring the life-time of the individual, 

 Mr. Spalding found an instinct in the course of development 

 in the case already quoted of the turkeys catching flies. And 

 precisely analogous facts may be noticed in the developing 

 instincts of the child. Thus, for instance, the balancing of 

 the head in an upright position may be said in man to be 

 instinctive, for the power of doing so is first acquired about 

 the tenth week, by constantly recurring efforts, and eventually 

 becomes independent of intentional thought. Preyer describes 

 the stages by which the latter, or completed, stage is reached 

 through numberless gradations, the passage of which occupies 



