INSTINCT 229 



that is already useful, and thus we assume the exist- 

 ence of that for which we are trying to account. We 

 are obliged to assume that in a single generation a 

 beaver or a colony of beavers was produced which 

 had a new instinct, and sufficiently developed to en- 

 able them to build a useful dam, and that in conse- 

 quence of this they were the better preserved and the 

 instinct propagated. If all this could have happened 

 in a single. generation, it is evident that no question 

 need be raised as to the possibility of future evolu- 

 tion. 



Besides this, the construction of a ditch for water 

 around their lodges required a different instinct serv- 

 ing another purpose. Its evolution involves similar 

 difficulties. 



I will not dwell longer on the difficulty of account- 

 ing for the evolution of special instincts and of the 

 changes of structure in organisms necessary to adapt 

 them to the use of new instincts. The animal" king- 

 dom is full of difficulties of this kind. Volumes 

 might be written describing the strange instincts of 

 Insects alone. 



In conclusion, I repeat that I regard the complex 

 instincts and peculiar structure of the honey-bee as 

 insuperable objections to the theory of evolution. 



