FACULTIES OF THK MINIJ. 265 



in "scenes of danger, to feign death. This is chiefly display- 

 . ed in various insects, and may readily be perceived in the com- 

 mon dorbeetle, (Scarabaus stercorarius, Lin.) This insect 

 when seized j will stretch out its legs, rendering them stiff, and 

 will remain motionless, until the danger seems to be over. 

 In- this state the limbs may be broken, without any action 

 being excited in the animal. 



III. AFFECTIONS. 



The immediate object of the two preceding classes of our 

 active powers, is to secure to the individual the comfortable 

 continuance of existence. In the case of the instincts which 

 are termed Affections, the object is to communicate pleasure 

 of pain to others. Those of the first class centre in our- 

 selves ; the last have a reference to others, binding us in a 

 variety of ways, to encrease their enjoyments or to repress 

 their faults. They have been divided, according to their 

 object, into Benevolent and Malevolent affections. 



Benevolent Affections. 



1. Parental Affection. We have placed this instinct 

 first in order, because it is the most powerful in its im- 

 pulses, secures for us the greatest quantity of enjoyment, 

 prompts to the execution of the most complicated move- 

 ments, and is essentially necessary to the continuation of 

 life. This affection displays its energies, 



a. In each species providing a suitable place for the 

 birth of its offspring. This end is accomplished with the 

 same degree of certainty in those animals which produce 

 their young at first in the form of eggs, as in those which 

 bring them forth alive. Among the animals of the former 

 class, denominated oviparous, we witness fishes approach 

 the shore to deposit their spawn in the crevices of the rocks, 

 on the leaves of sea- weeds, or in the sand ; but in all these 



