AND THEIR REAL NATURE. 109 



the individuals are free and enjoy the power of free loco- 

 motion, and undergo a metamorphosis ; here, however, 

 we have before us aerial animals, and which are no longer 

 parasites inhabiting other organisms ; at most they are 

 only externally parasitic, and on plants alone ; the phe- 

 nomena of this mode of development are no longer 

 exhibited by Entozoa, but by Epiphgta. Nevertheless, 

 the course of development is in itself similar ; but in the 

 external, more free, and nobler form in which it is now 

 exhibited, the endeavour to attain something higher is 

 manifest ; each link or generation certainly brings its off- 

 spring nearer to the perfection aimed at ; but this ap- 

 proachment towards perfection is effected only by means 

 of the " nursing" by special animals, and is committed 

 to the still and quiet activity of an organ, without the 

 niu'sing animals themselves being conscious of it; it is a 

 function merely and not an expression of the will. In 

 all parts of the animal kingdom we see instances of the 

 still, quiet, and unconscious activity of the animal, being 

 developed into voluntary actions, which are undertaken 

 by it from an internal, obscure, and irresistible impulse 

 (or artificial impulse,*) as is the case in this instance. 

 The development and mode of feeding or nourishing the 

 young exhibited in its course, of Bees, Wasps, Ants, and 

 Termites affords a direct example of the mode in which the 

 care of the young is provided for, by the voluntary action 

 of numerous individuals devoted to that object. Those 

 of the young which are to be developed into the more 

 perfect, fertile individuals, are not protected in the body 

 of the foster-parents, nor is their nourishment secreted by 

 one of their organs ; both protection and food are afforded 

 them by means which are brought about by the conscious 

 activity of the ''feeders!' The wasp, for instance, or the 

 wild humble bee, which has been impregnated in the 

 autumn and has .afterwards sought a shelter to protect 

 itseff against the cold of winter, prepares a sohtary habita- 



* Or instinct to produce compound effects resembling human art (Kunst- 

 trieb.) 



