CHAPTER XXII. 



LAW AND PUNISHMENT. 



THOUGH they have not the means that man possesses of 

 giving them form in print or writing, or even of giving them 

 expression orally, certain animals, nevertheless, have laws 

 that regulate their conduct, rules established by authority 

 and custom sometimes of a very definite kind that guide 

 their procedure under given circumstances. Authors have 

 described even the existence of systems or codes of laws or 

 of rules among various animals, and have professed their 

 ability to understand or interpret them. Thus Mrs. Burton 

 says of the pariah dogs of Damascus, ' Their habits are 

 regulated by laws of their own. I have grown, in the 

 solitude of Salahiyeh, to learn them.' Animals assert or 

 maintain, defend and transgress, their own laws, and they 

 suffer the penalties of such transgression. 



The following are illustrations of the kinds of law or rule 

 that guide the actions, individual or corporate, of certain 

 of the lower animals : viz. those relating to 



1. The administration of public affairs in the villages or 

 communities of the prairie dog (Houzeau). 



2. Territorial or district government including frontier 

 laws in the street dogs of Constantinople, Damascus, or 

 other Eastern towns (Burton, Low, Watson). 



3. The common laws for the common good that charac- 

 terise wasps (Eendu). 



4. The laws of battle among various belligerent species 

 or genera. 



5. The law or rule of might of the strong over the 

 weak. 



