CHAP. V Social Life of Animals 91 



these are sublimed in birds and mammals to what we call 

 love. This love of mates broadens out ; it laps the family in 

 its folds ; it diffuses itself as a saturating influence through 

 the societies of animals and of men. " Sociability," Espinas 

 says, " is based on the friendliness of mates." 



The fourth step is the evolution of the family. From 

 monkeys and beavers and many kinds of birds, to ants and 

 bees and diverse insects, many animals illustrate family 

 life. There is no longer the physical continuity charac- 

 teristic of the colony, but there is a growing psychical 

 unity. It is natural that the first ties of family life should 

 be those between mother and young, and should be strong- 

 est when the number of offspring is not very large. But 

 even in some beetles, and more notably in certain fishes 

 and amphibians, the males exhibit parental care and affec- 

 tion ; while in higher animals, especially among birds, the 

 parents often divide the labours of the family. " Children," 

 Lucretius said, "children with their caresses broke down 

 the haughty temper of parents." 



The fifth step is the combination of families into a 

 society, such as we find illustrated by monkeys and 

 beavers, cranes and parrots, and in great perfection by 

 ants. The members are less nearly related than in the 

 family, but there may be even more unity of spirit. 



I do not say that it is easy to understand how coherence 

 of units led to the formation of a " body," how colonies 

 became integrated and the labours of life more and more 

 distributed, how love was evolved from apparently crude 

 attractions between the sexes, how the love of mates was 

 broadened into parental and filial affection, or how families 

 well knit together formed the sure foundations of society ; 

 but I believe that it is useful to recognise these steps in the 

 history. 



We hardly know how to express ourselves in regard to 

 the origin of affection. But I cannot get beyond Aristotle's 

 fundamental principle of evolution, that there is nothing in 

 the end which was not also in the beginning. 



Yet we may fairly say that the sociality and helpfulness 

 of animals are flowers whose roots are in kinship. Off- 



