med. And if, with Darwin and some others, 
ve doubt of the existence of a blind instinctive 
opensity as the cause of these movements, we 
ave no resource but to ascribe them to a very 
gh degree of intelligence, combined with 
ach mental resolution, and extending toall or 
most all the individuals of thespecies, enabling 
em to foresee evils that are still remote, and 
termining them to undergo labour, fatigue, 
danger in order to avoid them. It has also 
sn repeatedly ascertained that the same indi- 
juals return after their six months of absence 
d long voyages, to the very spots where they 
d been brought forth, implying a power of 
cernment and recollection which appear to 
‘quite inconceivable. Of such high qua- 
ies of mind we see no indications in the other 
of these birds, excepting only in their 
parations for the nurture of their young ; and 
hey really possessed these qualities, we might 
pect with perfect confidence to see them 
ise many contrivances for their comfort and 
ience, and to witness variations and im- 
ents in habits, which we know from the 
itings of the ancient naturalists to have been 
rfectly uniform and stationary at least since 
e time of Aristotle. 
There are some of the Mammalia, chiefly of 
der Ruminantia, which likewise perform 
iodical migrations in the natural state, as has 
en particularly noticed in America, of the 
on, the musk-ox, and rein-deer. A similar 
has been observed in the quaggas in 
and a singular observation, as shewing 
ation of instinct according to varying cir- 
lances, was made by Dr. Richardson, that 
American black bear, when lean, and from 
hat cause unfitted for hybernation, migrates in 
winters from the northward into the 
nited States. 
The periodical migrations of fishes appear to 
e designed for the benefit of their offspring, 
ot for their own preservation; and there are 
her migrations, in immense numbers, of various 
tinds of animals which are not periodical, and 
of which the object is still obscure, but which 
do not fall under the present head. 
Of instincts for the propagation and 
of offspring —Of the very curiously 
ied instincts of animals connected with 
the propagation and support of their off- 
mr . ie heed not dwell on those which 
ust necessarily attend the very various 
inds of organs (so well arranged and de- 
scribed by Cuvier), by which the impreg- 
hation of the ova in the different tribes of 
mals is effected—the instincts, e.g. which 
r most male fishes to impregnate eggs 
dy laid, and many reptiles to impregnate 
hem at the moment of their emission from 
le body of the female, or which guide the 
ifferent warm-blooded animals in the different 
s of their sexual intercourse. The in- 
cts which enable animals to anticipate and 
vide for the wants of their young are still 
nore varied, and imply mental processes of 
ater complexity. The most important of 
hese may he referred to the following heads. 
1. This is probably one object of the migra- 
a 
; 
+ 
INSTINCT. 
13 
tions of birds above-mentioned, and certainly 
the main object of the migrations of great 
swarms of fishes, both in the sea, and of those 
which ascend the rivers; to which the same 
observations, as to the return to the same spot 
whence they had formerly departed, and as to 
the labours and hazard which the instinct im- 
pels them to incur, are in many instances appli- 
cable. 
“ The cod-fish makes for the coast at spawn- 
ing time, going northward; this takes place 
towards the end of winter, or the beginning of 
spring. 
“The mackarel hybernates in the: Arctic, 
Antarctic, and Mediterranean Seas, where it is 
stated to select certain depths of the sea called 
by the natives Barachouas, which are so land- 
locked, that the water is as calm at all times as 
in the most sheltered pools. 
“ It is in these that the mackarel, directed by 
instinct, pass the winter. In the spring they 
emerge in infinite shoals from their hiding 
places, and proceed southward for the purposes 
of depositing their eggs in more genial seas. 
“What the mackarel is to the north of 
Europe, the thunny is to the south. It de- 
posits its eggs in May and June, when it enters 
the Mediterranean, seeking the shores in shoals 
arranged in the form of a parallelogram, or as 
some say, a triangle, and making a great noise 
and stir. 
“The herring may be said to inhabit the 
arctic seas of Europe, Asia, and America, from 
whence they annually migrate at different times 
in search of food, and to deposit their spawn. 
Their shoals consist of millions of myriads, 
and are many leagues in width, many fathoms 
in thickness, and so dense that the fishes touch 
each other.” ‘The largest and strongest are 
said to lead the shoals, which seem to move in 
a certain order, and to divide into bands as 
they proceed, visiting the shores of various 
islands and countries, and enriching their in- 
habitants.” ‘ They seek places for spawning 
where stones and marine plants abound, against 
which they rub themselves. alternately on each 
side, all the while moving their fins with great 
rapidity.” 
“ In temperate climates the salmon quits the _ 
sea early in the spring, when the waves are 
driven by a strong wind against the river 
currents.” “They leave the sea in numerous 
bands formed with great regularity. The 
largest individual, which is usually a female, 
takes the lead, and is followed by others of the 
same sex, two and two, each pair being at 
the distance of from three to six feet from the 
preceding one; next come the old, and after 
them the young males in the same order.” 
“ They employ only three months in ascending 
to the sources of the Maraguon, the current of 
which is remarkably rapid, which is at the 
rate of nearly forty miles a day; in a smooth 
stream or lake their progress would increase in 
a four-fold ratio. Their tail is a very powerful 
organ, and its muscles have wonderful efiergy ; 
by placing it in their mouth, they make of it 
a very elastic spring, for, letting it go with 
violence, they raise themselves in the air to the 
