CHAPTER VIII 



INSTINCT, INTELLIGENCE, AND USES 



INSTINCT and intelligence as we understand 

 them are hardly qualities that one would look for 

 in molluscs, nevertheless the homing instinct is dis- 

 played by more than one. The Limpet is well 

 known to return after each grazing excursion to the 

 selfsame spot on the rocks to which it has fitted its 

 shell. The Common Garden Snail and the Slugs 

 punctually return after each nocturnal ramble to the 

 nook or corner, crack or cranny that each has made 

 its home. A somewhat higher order of intelligence 

 is that cited by Darwin on the authority of 

 Mr. Lonsdale, in which a Roman Snail (Helix 

 pomatia) made its way from an ill-stocked garden 

 over the wall to one rich in plant-life, and returning, 

 fetched a weakly companion, which it piloted to the 

 land of plenty it had discovered. 



Madame Power declares that she once saw an 

 Octopus in her aquarium watch a Pinna till the shell 

 was well open and then deliberately place a fragment 



i37 



