FEIGNING DEATH. 303 



left side of a particular petal, just over the spot where the 

 larger passage to the nectar is to be found. But, as I have 

 said, I feel that furtlier observation — especially in the way of 

 experiment — of the facts is required before we should be 

 justified in giving a very definite opinion upon the theoretical 

 interpretation of them. All I can say is that, in tlie present 

 state of our information upon the subject, Mr. Darwin's view, 

 as above stated, appears to be the most proljable one that 

 can be taken. We are not much surprised at tlie instinct of 

 a Ferret in attacking the medulla oblongata of a rabbit, or at 

 that of a Pole-cat in paralyzing frogs and toads by injuring 

 the cerebral hemispheres ;* and in both these cases — so 

 analogous to that which we are now considering — the instinct 

 must have originated by intelligent observation of the eflects 

 of biting these particular parts of the prey. But neither a 

 ferret nor a pole-cat is a particularly intelligent animal, so 

 that we are perhaps too ready to feel surprise at the pos- 

 sibly similar degree of intelligence displayed by insects 

 which belong to the most intelligent group of invertebrated 

 animals. 



Feigning Death. 



It is a matter of common knowledge and wonder that 

 sundry species of animals belonging to different orders and 

 even classes, manifest the instinct, when in danger, of feign- 

 ing death. As it is clearly impossible to attribute this fact 

 to any idea of death and of its conscious simulation on the 

 part of the animals, the subject becomes one of importance 

 for us to consider. I shall first give all the facts that I have 

 been able to collect with regard to it, and then proceed to 

 discuss their explanation. 



The most familiar example of the instinct in question is 

 furnished by sundry species of insects and spiders, many of 

 which allow themselves to be slowly dismembered, or 

 gradually roasted to death, without betraying the slightest 

 movement. "Among fish, the captured sturgeon remains 

 quiet and passive in the net, while the perch feigns death 

 and floats on its back."-f' According to Wrangle,^ the wild 

 geese of Siberia, if alarmed during the moulting season wlien 



* See Animal Intelligence, p. 347. 



t Couch, Illustrations of Instinct, p. 199, et seq. 



X Travels in Siberia, p. 312, Eng. Transl. 



