i62 INSECTS AND HEREDITY 



Eimer is even more rash in his statements :—' This is 

 one of the most marvellous instincts that exist; since 

 the wasp operates on various larvae with nervous systems 

 of various forms, she must effect the paralysis in various 

 ways, and even apart from this, she makes a physiological 

 experiment which is far in advance of the knowledge 

 of man. ... It may be suggested that the wasp only 

 paralysed the larvae in order to carry them more easily ; 

 but even if this were the case, she must, since she now 

 invariably acts in this way, have drawn a conclusion by 

 deductive reasoning. In this case it is absolutely impos- 

 sible that the animal has arrived at its habit otherwise 

 than by reflection upon the facts of experience.' 



Mr. and Mrs. Peckham make the following comment 

 upon this wild passage from Eimer : — ' One can hardly 

 be expected to take such statements seriously, since it is 

 certain that the writer has no knowledge of the life 

 histories of these insects.' * 



III. Thirdly, there are those who believe that the 

 instincts in question are to be explained by the operation 

 of Natural Selection upon hereditary nervous mechanisms, 

 who believe that the Lamarckian principle of the heredi* 

 tary transmission of education has never come into the 

 history at any stage. Fabre's observations are quite 

 consistent with this view ; in fact it would almost appear 

 that Darwinian evolution as apart from Lamarckian 

 evolution is really unknown to this great naturalist. He 

 seems invariably to strike Lamarck when he aims at 

 Darwin. In this, however, he is only acting in the same 

 manner as the majority of the early critics of the Origin? 



In attempting to decide upon the past history of these 

 insects the first necessity is to be sure of the facts. 

 Fortunately the ground has been re-traversed by Mr. 

 and Mrs. Peckham, so that we can compare the observa- 

 tions of great and keen naturalists in two hemispheres. 



1 The Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps, by George W. and 

 Elizabeth G. Peckham, Madison, Wis., 1898, p. 221. 



2 Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist.,\o\, xxvi, 1895, pp. 377-9 (pp. 102-4 

 of this volume). See also Poulton, Charles Darwin and the Theory of 

 Natural Selection. London, 1896, chapters xix, xx, pp. 144-60. 



