THE ELEMENTS OF MIND 213 



with it, tossing it playfully into the air, poking it 

 with her paw when it does not move, and arresting 

 it when it starts to run away, the kittens all the 

 time looking on, but never once attempting to 

 take the mouse. After awhile the mother hands 

 the captive over to the kittens, who go through the 

 same performance one after another. After they 

 have practised on it until the unfortunate creature 

 is almost dead, the old cat will probably walk over 

 to where the mouse is and eat it up. The whole 

 thing is a school. The mouse is obviously not 

 intended as food for the young, but to be used 

 simply to impart instruction to them. 



* In popular writings and lectures some or all of 

 the following activities of ant-life are commonly 

 ascribed to instinct : The recognition of members 

 of the same nest ; powers of communication ; 

 keeping aphides for the sake of their sweet secre- 

 tions ; collection of aphid eggs in October, hatch- 

 ing them out in the nest, and taking them in the 

 spring to the daisies on which they feed, for 

 pasture ; slave-making and slave-keeping, which, 

 in some cases, is so ancient a habit that the 

 enslavers are unable even to feed themselves ; 

 keeping insects as beasts of burden — e.g.y a kind 

 of plant-bug to carry leaves ; keeping beetles, etc., 

 as domestic pets ; habits of personal cleanliness — 

 one ant giving another a brush-up, and being, 

 brushed up in return ; habits of play and recrea- " 

 tion ; habits of burying their dead ; the storage of 

 grain and nipping the budding rootlet to prevent 

 further germination; the habit of Texan ants of 



