1 8 THE FOUNDATIONS OF ZOOLOGY 



caterpillars, which again were eaten freely. The chicks had thus 

 learnt to distinguish by sight between the nice and nasty cater- 

 pillars." 



"The cinnabar caterpillars are, as I have said, conspicuously 

 marked with alternating yellow and black rings. It would seem 

 that the end of this conspicuousness is to render association in 

 the individual experience of young birds more rapid and more 

 certain ; there does not appear to be any congenital and instinc- 

 tive avoidance of such caterpillars with warning colors. The net 

 result of these observations is that, in the absence of parental 

 guidance, the young birds have to learn for themselves what is 

 good to eat, and what is distasteful, and have no instinctive 

 aversions." 



In his discussion of these most instructive observations, the 

 author says, p. 150: "A chick sees for the first time in its life 

 a cinnabar larva, instinctively pecks at it under the influence of 

 the visual stimulus ; seizes it, and under the influence of the taste- 

 stimulus instinctively shrinks. So far we have instinct and 

 automatism. Presently we throw to it another similar caterpillar. 

 Instinct and automatism alone would lead to a repetition of the 

 previous series of events ; seeing, seizing, tasting, and shrinking. 

 The oftener the experiment was performed, the more smoothly 

 would the organic mechanism work, the more definitely would the 

 same sequence be repeated — seeing, seizing, tasting, shrinking. 

 Is this what we actually observe .' Not at all. On the second 

 occasion the chick, under the influence of the previous experience, 

 acts differently. Though he sees, he does not seize, but shrinks 

 without seizing. We believe that there is a revival in memory of 

 the nasty taste. And in this we seem justified, since we may 

 observe that sometimes the chick on such occasions wipes the 

 bill on the ground as he does on experiencing an unpleasant 

 taste, though he has not touched the larvae. The chick, then, 

 does not continue to act merely from instinct and like an automa- 

 ton. His behavior is modified in the light of previous experi- 

 ence." 



So far as our senses tell us, actions of this sort are, in all 

 respects, like many we observe in our fellow-men, and attribute to 

 consciousness and memory and reason ; and as a mistaken belief 



