. 



V 



ANTS AND SOME OTHER INSECTS. 



74488 



WHEN discussing the ant-mind, we must consider that these 

 small animals, on the one hand, differ very widely from our- 

 selves in organisation, but on the other hand, have come, through 

 so-called convergence, to possess in the form of a social common- 

 wealth a peculiar relationship to us. My subject, however, requires 

 the discussion of so many complicated questions that I am com- 

 pelled to assume acquaintance with the work of others, especially 

 the elements of psychology, and in addition the works of P. Huber, 

 Wasmann, von Buttel-Reepen, Darwin, Romanes, Lubbock, my 

 Fourmis de la Suisse, and many others. Since the functions ot the 

 sense-organs constitute the basis of comparative psychology, I 

 must also refer to a series of articles entitled "Sensations des In- 

 sectes" which I have recently published (1900-1901) in the Rivista 

 de Biologia Generate, edited by Dr. P. Celesia. In these papers I 

 have defined my position with respect to various authors, especially 

 Plateau and Bethe. 



Very recently Bethe, Uexkull, and others have denied the ex- 

 istence of psychic powers in invertebrate animals. They explain 

 the latter as reflex-machines, and take their stand on the ground of 

 the so-called psycho-physical parallelism for the purpose of demon- 



^ strating our inability to recognise mental qualities in these animals. 



s. They believe, however, that they can prove the mechanical regu- 

 larity of behavior, but assume unknown forces whenever they are 

 left in the lurch in their explanations. They regard the mind as 

 first making its appearance in the vertebrates, whereas the old Car- 

 tesians regarded all animals, in contradistinction to man, as mind- 

 less (unconscious) machines. 



