VIII 

 ANIMAL AND PLANT INTELLIGENCE 



WHEN I hear a person expatiating on the 

 reasoning powers of the lower animals, as 

 I very often do, I want to tell them of the wonderful 

 reasoning powers of the flies that pester our cow in 

 summer. Those flies have measured the length of 

 the old cow's tail so accurately that they know the 

 precise spot on her body where the tail cannot reach 

 them; on these spots they settle and torment her. 

 Their behavior reveals great powers of calculation 

 and reasoning. By what means they measured the 

 swing of that tail so accurately I do not know. When 

 I come slying up with a switch in my hand, they 

 dart away before I can get in a stroke, because 

 they know I can reach them ; they take the mea- 

 sure of my arm and switch on the instant — on 

 the fly, as it were. And what shall we say of the 

 mosquito that so quickly finds out the vulnerable 

 parts of one's clothing ? If one chances to be wear- 

 ing low shoes, does she not know at a glance where 

 to strike, though she may never have seen low shoes 

 before ? 



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