Observations on Young Mammals. 125 



solid food, seems to show that there is here more acquisi- 

 tion than instinct. The very early spontaneous attempt 

 at eating in the rabbit, and the fact that, though the 

 dog is so essentially a carnivorous animal, yet until a 

 certain stage of development is reached, the puppy "is 

 no more excited by meat than by any object whatever, 

 show in the clearest way that there is an order in psychic 

 as in physical development," both in the race and in the 

 individual. Enough has, however, been quoted to illus- 

 trate the nature of instinctive response and of acquired 

 habit as exemplified by young mammals. 



Those who are familiar with the life and ways of 

 domesticated and wild species will be able to recall to 

 mind a number of instinctive traits. The way in which 

 the dog turns round before lying down, the way in 

 which he holds up his paw when excited and on the 

 scent, the manner in which the mother cat carries her 

 kitten, the strange instincts of cattle which Mr. W. H. 

 Hudson has so well described and discussed, the number- 

 less characteristic traits which animals, each after his kind, 

 display, would fill a volume. Concerning all such, I would 

 beg the observer to note carefully how far they are 

 unmistakably and indubitably congenital, and how far 

 they may result from individual acquisition through 

 experience or imitation. 



