726 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



certain degree of instinct or intelligence as distinguished from 

 mechanical or wholly non-mental adjustment. But there are some ob- 

 servations relating to the lowest of all animals, and made by a com- 

 petent person which ... in my opinion prove that the beginnings 

 of instinct are to be found so low down in the scale as the Ehizo- 

 poda." 



The observations of Mr. H. J. Carter are then quoted.* One 

 relates to ^ilialium, which will make its way over the side of a watch- 

 glass to get to the sawdust in which it has been living. In another 

 case he saw an Amceha climb up the stalk of an Acineta which con- 

 tained a young one ("tender and without poisonous tentacles"), place 

 itself round the ovarian aperture, receive the young one, incept it, 

 descend from the parent, and creep off with it. This Dr. Eomanes 

 considers, although certainly very suggestive of something more than 

 mechanical response to stimulation, is not sufficiently so to justify us 

 in ascribing to these lowest members of the zoological scale any rudi- 

 ment of truly mental action. The subject, however, is here full of 

 difficulty, and not the least so on account of the Amoebce not only 

 having no nervous system, but no observable organs of any kind, so 

 that, although we may suppose that the adaptive movements described, 

 by Mr. Carter were non-mental, it still remains wonderful that these 

 movements should be exhibited by such apparently unorganized 

 creatures, seeing that as to the remoteness of the end attained, no less 

 than the complex refinement of the stimulus to which their adaptive 

 response was due, the movements in question rival the most elaborate 

 of non-mental adjustments elsewhere performed by the most highly 

 organized of nervous systems. 



In Coelenterates Dr. Eomanes notices M'Crady's account of a 

 medusa which carries its larvsB on the inner side of its bell, moving 

 the manubrium from side to side to give suck to the larvae on the 

 sides, but he does not consider this is due to intelligence. The mode 

 in which Sarsia seeks the light is in the nature of a reflex action, and 

 he does not concur in Dr. Elmer's distinction between the " involun- 

 tary " and " voluntary " movements of medusae. 



Some of the natural movements of the Echinodermata, as also 

 some under stimulation, are very suggestive of purpose, but Dr. 

 Eomanes has satisfied himself that there is no adequate evidence of 

 the animals being able to profit by individual experience, so that there 

 is no adequate evidence of their exhibiting truly natural phenomena. 



Of Vermes, the only instances cited are Mr. Darwin's observations 

 on earth-worms, and Sir E. Tennent's on Ceylon land-leeches. 



In Mollusca, the more important observations relate to snails, 

 limpets, and oysters. There is no doubt, he considers, that if a larger 

 sphere of opportunity permitted, adequate observation of the Cepha- 

 lopoda would prove them to be much the most intelligent members of 

 the Sub-kingdom. 



The foregoing occupies pp. 18-30 of Dr. Eomanes's book ; the 

 remainder (pp. 31-498) deals with Ants, Bees and Wasps, Spiders and 

 Scorpions, remaining Articulata and the Vertebrates. 



* Aun. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xii. (1863) pp. 45-6. 



