174 Chapter IV. 



shows the beetle Lomechusa strumosa so often referred 

 to, and one of its larvae, magnified to four times their 

 natural size. 



Fig. 4. Fig. 5. 



Lomechusa strumosa F. Fullgrown larva of Lomechusa 



(Magnified.) strumosa. (Magnified.) 



The same adoption instinct occurs also with birds, 

 although not so seemingly intelligent as with ants. 

 The best-known example is the hen, that readily 

 hatches eggs of other hens, ducks, geese, turkeys, 

 etc., and extends to all her adopted children the same 

 "motherly care," she would show to her own chicks. 

 G. Romanes 1 succeeded even in making a hen the 

 foster-mother of some young ferrets, which he had 

 substituted for the artificial eggs, on which she was 

 hatching. The numerous species of birds, which 

 tend the young cuckoos, follow the same line of con- 

 duct, the only difference being, that they lavish still 

 greater care on these changelings, because they open 

 their mouths wider in crying for food than their own 

 nestlings. The adoption instinct, finally, is met with 

 among mammals, the most blood-thirsty carnivores not 

 excepted. Though it is a fable, that ancient Rome 



*) "Mental Development in the Animal Kingdom." 



