244 ORIGIN OF INSTINCTS. 



tatinpjly asserts that "Si de son cote rhymenoptere 

 excelle dans son art, c'est qu'il est fait pour I'exercer ; 

 c'e>t qu'il est doue, non seulement d'outils, mais encore 

 de la mauiere de s'en servir. Et ce don est originel, 

 parfait des le debut ; le passe n'y a rien ajoute, I'avenir 

 n'y ajoutera rien." * But how was it acquired ? M. 

 Fabre cuts the Gordian knot. " Et lout naivement je 

 me dis : Puisqu'il faut des Avaignees aux Pompiles, de 

 tout temps ceux-ci ont possede leur patiente astuce et 

 les autres leur sotte audace. C'est pueril, si Ton veut, 

 peu conforme aux visees transcendanles des theories a 

 la mode; il n'y a la ni objectif ni subjectif, ni adapta- 

 tion ni differentiation, ni attavisme ni transformisme ; 

 soit, mais du mnins je comprends." 



"Je comprends!'' M. Fabre says he understands, 

 and no doubt he thinks so ; but I confess that his 

 explanation seems to me to leave us just \^here we 

 were. To my mind, I confess, it seems to me to throw 

 no light whatever on the matter. M. Fabre asserts 

 that the habits of these insects have been " rie tout 

 temps " exactly what they are now. I p:iss by the fiict 

 that the Hymenoptera are, geologically speaking, of 

 comparatively recent appearance. But is it the case 

 that habits are so invariable ? Quite the reverse. The 

 cases of variation are innumerable. 



Romanes f refers to a criticism of the same nature 

 by Kirby and Spence. ""Why," they ask, "if instincts 

 are open to modification by experience and intelligence, 

 are not bees sometimes found to use mud or mortar 

 instead of wax or propolis? Show us," they say, " but 

 one instance of their having substituted mud for 



» J. H. Fabre, " Nouveaux Souvenirs Entomologiques." 

 "Mental Evolution in Animals." 



