THE WAYS OF LIFE 



231 



state ; one limb may be cut off after another, and it gives 

 not the slightest reaction. As Darwin noted, the attitude 

 is often not at all like the death- attitude. The phenomenon 

 may be exhibited by a decapitated insect. There seems 

 reason, then, to agree with Bohn that in Crustaceans and 

 Insects the so-called death- 

 feigning is an exaggeration of 

 the ' differential sensitiveness ' 

 of simpler animals. 



In the water-insect known 

 as the water- scori* ion (Rana- 

 tra), there is a marked ' death- 

 feigning ', but it is exhibited 

 only in the air, which the 

 American species, at any rate, 

 rarely visits. It is so pro- 

 nounced, both in young and 

 adult forms, that the creature 

 can be cut in two without 

 any response, but it is dim- 

 cult to see that it can be of 

 any value. Mr. S. J. Holmes 

 writes : 



FIG. 43. An insect Carassiua 

 standing on its head 

 in the ' cataleptic ' or 

 ' death-feigning ' state. 

 A little less than natural 

 size. (After Schmidt.) 



' One is strongly inclined to 



believe that the death-feint, which is manifested only 

 when the insect is in the air, is rather an incidental 

 result of certain physiological peculiarities of the organism 

 than an instinct which has been built up by Natural 

 Selection for the benefit of the species '. 



'Bluffing'. Every one knows how the cat that is 

 chased by an impudent dog suddenly turns and 'stands 



