184 COMPAEISONS OF STRUCTURE IN ANIilALS. 



instinct and structure accord, and necessarily 

 go together ; but "we cannot say that structure 

 determines instinct, for, if so, then the animal, 

 by repeated trials, must discover its peculiarities 

 of organization, and from experience deduce the 

 best and most advantageous mode of operation. 

 But, so far is this from being the case, that the 

 young of any species, as soon as it has strength, 

 displays the instincts and modes of its progeni- 

 tors. A duckling just hatched will immediately 

 make for the pond, and set itself fearlessly 

 afloat, paddling with its webbed feet, as if it 

 had been previously familiar vdth the water. 

 The young crocodile, or alligator, immediately 

 on exclusion from the egg, buried in the warm 

 sand, crawls to the river ; and, when interrupted, 

 has been known to assume a threatening 

 attitude, and snap furiously at the stick pre- 

 sented to it. The young bat, as soon as it is 

 capable of shifting for itself, launches boldly 

 into the air, and flits in many a mazy course, 

 pursuing the insects which come forth in the 

 ausk of evening. 



We might prove our position by hundreds of 

 cases in point, but it is needless ; it is by the 

 guidance of instinct, that animals apply their 

 organs, promptly, decidedly, without hesitation. 



