CHAP. VII.] THE BEUIE. 213 



other shells remained within a few inches of the mouth. In about five 

 minutes the crab brought out the shell which had fallen in, and carried 

 it away to the distance of a foot ; it then saw the three other shells 

 lying near, and evidently thinking (the italics are mine) that they might 

 likewise roll in, carried them to the spot where it had laid the first.&quot; 

 vol. i. p. 334, 



Mr. Darwin adds or quotes the astonishing remark, &quot; It 

 would, I think, be difficult to distinguish this act from one 

 performed by man by the aid of reason.&quot; Again, he tells 

 us : 



&quot; Mr. Lonsdale informs me that he placed a pair of land-snails 

 (Helix pomatia), one of which was weakly, into a small and ill-provided 

 garden. After a short time the strong and healthy individual dis 

 appeared, and was traced by its track of slime over a wall into an 

 adjoining well-stocked garden. Mr. Lonsdale concluded that it had 

 deserted its sickly mate ; but after an absence of twenty-four hours 

 it returned, and apparently communicated the result of its successful 

 exploration, for both then started along the same track and disappeared 

 over the wall.&quot; vol. i. p. 325. 



Whatever may be the real value of the statements quoted, 

 they harmonize with a matter which is incontest- Parit of 

 able. I refer to the fact that the intelligence of jS_ 

 brutes, be they high or be they low, is essentially auferciTani- 

 one in kind, there being a singular parity between uulls 

 animals belonging to groups widely different in type of 

 structure and in degree of development. It is difficult to see 

 in what respect the &quot; intelligence &quot; of these land-snails fell 

 short of that of a gorilla. 



Apart from the small modifications which experience occa 

 sionally introduces into the habits of animals as sometimes 

 occurs after man has begun to frequent a newly-discovered 

 island it cannot be denied that, looking broadly over the 

 whole animal kingdom, there is no evidence of advance in 

 mental power on the part of brutes. This absence of pro 

 gression in animal intelligence is a very important con 

 sideration, and it is one which does not seem to be adverted 

 to by Mr. Darwin, though the facts detailed by him are 

 exceedingly suggestive of it. 



When I speak of this absence of progression, I do not, of 



