56 THE HUMANIZING OF THE BRUTE. 



evidently false, because the characteristic sign of dis- 

 crimination is common to both species of actions. Is 

 this the case? 



Speaking of the so-called Pelopaei (Mud- Daubers), 

 Mr. Peckham says, that "originally they built under 

 overhanging rocks and in hollow trees. " And now, 

 "when near human habitations these wasps make use 

 of the more convenient positions which they offer. ' ' 

 ' 'The spot chosen for the nest may be in a barn up 

 among the rafters, in an outhouse, under the roof of a 

 porch, or, indeed, in any sheltered place where it will 

 be protected." x ) According to Mr. Peckham's 

 criterion, the former mode of building in hollow trees 

 is instinctive, whereas the latter mode of building in 

 house -chimneys is an intelligent act. For the former 

 does not depend on any experience whatsoever, whilst 

 the latter is a modification of the former, due to actual 

 experience. And in reality Mr. Peckham enumerates 

 this example among the instances which he advances 

 for the intelligence of wasps. 



But does the experience which influenced the for- 

 mer mode of action change its instinctive nature? 



Every wasp is endowed with instinct. Hence it pos- 

 sesses the inherited faculty of forming associations of 

 sense perceptions and feelings necessary for the preser- 

 vation of its species. But the single associations as 

 such are not inherited. For, if this were the case, we 

 would have to assume special innate forms of cognition 

 representing the exterior objects of every one of 

 the thousands and thousands of instinctive actions of 

 animals. But this assumption is as extravagant as it 



>) I.e., p. 177. 



