THE WAYS OF LIFE 209 



time, flies to a flower which it has never seen before, and 

 tackles it deftly, collecting pollen and nectar, it illustrates 

 instinctive behaviour. We say that it does its work ' as 

 if to the manner born ' ; and it is characteristic of instinc- 

 tive capacity that it is hereditarily entailed. 



An unhatched lapwing may be heard saying ' pee- wit ' 

 from within the egg. This is its distinctive call-note, and 

 its utterance appears to be instinctive quite independent 

 of instruction or imitation. Chicks reared in an incubator 

 have the usual vocabulary. This, again, is characteristic 

 of instinctive behaviour, that it does not require education 

 or example or practice, though it may be improved thereby. 

 As Dr. Hans Driesch has said, instinctive behaviour is ' a 

 complicated reaction that is perfect the very first time. ' 



The mother Sphex-wasp, whose behaviour we shall 

 afterwards discuss, stocks each of the cells in her nest with 

 three or four paralysed crickets. On the under side of one 

 of these (turned on its back) she fixes an egg, out of which 

 in three or four days a delicate worm-like larva is hatched. 

 This tiny creature bores a hole through the cricket's cuticle, 

 makes its way into the paralysed body, and proceeds to 

 devour the tissues. In a week or so, having attained a 

 length of twelve millimetres, it goes out by the aperture by 

 which it entered, and proceeds to enjoy another cricket. 

 In about twelve days it has eaten all its larder. Its 

 behaviour is strikingly instinctive. 



The way in which some new-born mammals immediately 

 proceed to suck their mother illustrates an instinctive 

 endowment. ' Each little pig the moment that he is outside 

 hurries over the sow's hind legs, and, in the second second 

 of his outdoor life, has a teat in his mouth '. Newly-born 

 pigs also show instinctive knowledge of the significance 



P 



