" Most remarkable among rodents for instinct 

 and intelligence, unquestionably stands the bea- 

 ver. Indeed, there is no animal — not even ex- 

 cepting the ants and bees — where instinct has 

 risen to a higher level of far-reaching adapta- 

 tion to certain constant conditions of environ- 

 ment, or where faculties, undoubtedly instinc- 

 tive, are more puzzlingly wrought up with facul- 

 ties no less undoubtedly intelligent." 



" It is truly an astonishing fact that animals 

 should engage in such vast architectural labors 

 with what appears to be the deliberate purpose 

 of securing, by such very artificial means, the 

 special benefits that arise from their high en- 

 gineering skill. So astonishing, indeed, does 

 this fact appear, that as sober-minded interpre- 

 ters of fact we would fain look for some expla- 

 nation which would not necessitate the infer- 

 ence that these actions are due to any intelligent 

 appreciation, either of the benefits that arise 

 from the labor, or the hydrostatic principles to 

 which this labor so clearly refers." 



— George J. Romanes, 31. A., LL.D., F.R.S. 



