186 EVOLUTION AND MAN S PLACE IN NATURE 



lower mammals, as in the life of the beaver. The 

 laws of organic existence themselves provide for these 

 complex methods of co-operative action. These phases 

 of action do not seem to be the result of little doses 

 of judgment and reason. They come from organic 

 impulse more nearly akin to the simple impulse of 

 appetite ; and are executed in absence of reflective 

 exercise. 



Next, we include provision for the young of the 

 species. The mysteries of embryonic life are great at 

 every point in the scale of animate existence. But 

 when we consider provision for nourishment of the 

 young, the contrast between larvae and embryonic 

 forms of life is remarkable. Here also complexity of 

 procedure appears most striking in insect life. In the 

 case of the higher mammals there is, in the temporary 

 dependence of offspring, under physiological provision 

 for lactation, an almost bald simplicity, in contrast 

 with the complex arrangements of insect life. These 

 far surpass, in their provisions for the coming life, all 

 that is accomplished by the knowledge and foresight 

 of man. Most striking illustrations are stored in the 

 annals of natural history. I take a single example as 

 given by Weismann, when referring to the way in 

 which the Cynipidcv (Rhodites rosce) deposit their 

 eggs in the tissue of a young bud. The action of the 

 mother is thus described ; she first carefully examines 

 the bud on all sides, and feels it with her legs and 

 antennae. Then she slowly inserts her long ovipositor 

 between the closely rolled leaves of the bud ; but, if it 

 does not reach exactly the right spot, she will with 

 draw and reinsert it many times, until at length when 

 the proper place has been found, she will slowly bore 



