THE WAYS OF LIFE 223 



their attitude of detached immobility and the workers 

 go on with their lichen-gathering. 



It may be safely said that the recent observations on the 

 Black Termite have given the student of animal behaviour 

 some material of unsurpassed interest and have raised 

 some deep problems. Perhaps their chief general interest 

 is in their illustration of somewhat complex social life on 

 an instinctive basis, and in their corroboration of the view 

 that instinct and intelligence are expressions of life on quite 

 divergent tacks of evolution, differing rather in kind than 

 in degree. But on any interpretation the Black ' White 

 Ant ' is passing wonderful. 



SPECIALIZED CHARACTER OF MANY INSTINCTS 



One of the striking facts in regard to instincts is that 

 they are often highly specialized, and that their value 

 depends on their precision. Let us give two or three 

 examples. It is well known that the young cuckoo, while 

 still blind and naked, will eject the rightful tenants of the 

 nest with great effectiveness, just as if it understood all 

 about it. It is helped to get rid of the eggs by a hollow 

 on its back, which persists for eleven days or so. A careful 

 observer of the ejection of a partly-fledged young pipit 

 from a nest below a heather-bush on the declivity of a 

 low, abrupt bank has called attention to the purpose- 

 like way in which ' the blind little monster made for the 

 open side of the nest, the only part where it could throw 

 its burthen down the bank '. 



The specific character of instinct is finely illustrated by 

 the solitary wasps, which store food in their nests for the 

 future grubs. In most cases each species of wasp has her 



