Aberrations of Instinct 



plished counts as valid by the mere fact that 

 it has been accomplished; the insect does 

 not go back to it, should some accident de- 

 mand; the consequent follows without 

 troubling about the missing antecedent. 

 A blind impulse urges it from one act to a 

 second, from this second to a third and so 

 on until the task is completed; but it is im- 

 possible for the insect to reascend the cur- 

 rent of its activity should accidental condi- 

 tions arise and call for this, however im- 

 peratively. Having passed through the 

 complete cycle, the work is considered to be 

 most logically performed by a worker de- 

 void of all logic. 



The stimulus to labour is the bait of 

 pleasure, that chief motive-power in the ani- 

 mal. The mother has no foreknowledge 

 whatever of her future larva; she does not 

 build, does not hunt, does not hoard with 

 the conscious aim of rearing a family. The 

 real object of her work is hidden from her; 

 the accessory but exciting aim, the pleasure 

 experienced, is her only guide. The Pelo- 

 paeus feels a keen satisfaction when she 

 crams a cell full with Spiders; and she goes 

 on hunting with imperturbable spirit after 

 the removal of the egg from the cell has 

 made provisions useless. She delights in 



