THE BRUISED SERPENT 178 



it will most nearly resemble those of the lower 

 animals. 



Darwin, on the slightest evidence, affirms that 

 monkeys display an instinctive or inherited fear of 

 snakes. There are many who would think any 

 further inquiry into the matter superfluous ; for, 

 they would argue, if monkeys fear snakes in that 

 way, then assuredly we, developed monkeys, must 

 regard them with a feeling identical in character 

 and origin. To be able thus to skim with the 

 swallow's grace and celerity over dark and possibly 

 unfathomable questions is a very engaging accom- 

 plishment, and apparently a very popular one. 

 What is done with ease will always be done with 

 pleasure ; and what can be easier or more agreeable 

 than to argue in this fashion : " Fear of snakes is 

 merely another example of historical memory, re- 

 calling a time when man, like his earliest ancestors, 

 the anthropoid apes, was sylvan and solitary ; a 

 mighty climber of trees whose fingers were fre- 

 quently bitten by bird-nesting colubers, and who 

 was occasionally swallowed entire by colossal 

 serpents of arboreal habits." 



The instinctive fear of enemies, although plainly 

 traceable in insects, with some other creatures low 

 in the organic scale, is exceedingly rare among the 

 higher vertebrates ; so rare indeed as to incline 

 any one who has made a real study of their actions 

 to doubt its existence. It is certain that zoo- 

 logical writers are in the habit of confusing in- 

 stinctive or inherited with traditional fear, the 



