14-1 Chapter VII. 



or less intelligence according to this modern definition; 

 but most of all those which, like ants, have highly de- 

 veloped instincts. Darwin was far more consistent than 

 many a recent zoologist, when he wrote in his ''Descent 

 of Man" i 1 "Those insects which possess the most won- 

 derful instincts are certainly the most intelligent." 



But did not Mr. Alb. Bethe in his recent work that 

 has been so widely spoken of, 2 prove that ants have 

 no "psychic qualities' whatsoever, and that in conse- 

 quence a far wider gap exists between them and the 

 higher vertebrates, than between these and man? 

 Bethe's essay relates, indeed, many clever experiments 

 with ants and bees, it is of undoubted scientific merit 

 compared with many pseudo-psychological treatises 

 which humanize ants, it even helps to prove our state- 

 ment that ants are not a sort of intelligent human beings 

 in miniature. For these achievements we owe Mr. 

 Bethe a debt of gratitude. But we regret so much the 

 more that he went to the opposite extreme and tried to 

 transform the ant into a mere reflex-mechanism, devoid 

 of all sensitive cognition and feeling. We have else- 

 where examined Bethe's reflex-theory in detail, 3 and 

 in disproof of his views on the psychic faculties of ants 

 and of higher animals, we have instanced many new 

 facts from our own observation in a larger work, 4 



x ) Op. cit., 1, p. 37. 



2 ) "Duerfen wir den Ameisen und Bienen psychische Qualitaeten 

 zuschreiben"? ("Archiv fuer die gesammte Physiologic," 70 [1898], 

 15-100.) 



3 ) "Eine neue Reflextheorie des Ameisenlebens" (^Biologisches 

 Centralblatt," 18, 1898, No. 15, S. 577-588). 



4 ) "Die psychischen Faehigkeiten der Ameisen" ("Zoologica Heft," 

 26, Stuttgart, 1899), 134 S. Folio with 3 plates. 



