198 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



clinging together. They collect food for tlie community, 

 and when an object too large for entrance is brought to the 

 nest, they enlarge the door, and afterward build it up again. 

 They store up seeds, of which they prevent the germination, 

 and which, if damp, are brought up to the surface to dry. 

 They keep aphides and other insects as milch-cows. They 

 go out to battle in regular bands, and freely sacrifice their 

 lives for the common weal. They emigrate according to a 

 preconcerted plan. They capture slaves. They move the 

 eggs of their aphides, as well as their own eggs and co- 

 coons, into warm parts of the nest, in order that they may 

 be quickly hatched; and endless similar facts could be 

 given." On the whole, the difference in mental power 

 between an ant and a coccus is immense; yet no one has 

 ever dreamed of placing these insects in distinct classes, 

 much less in distinct kingdoms. !N"o doubt the difference 

 is bridged over by other insects; and this is not the case 

 •v^ith man and the higher apes. But we have every reason 

 to believe that the breaks in the series are simply the results 

 of many forms having become extinct. 



Prof. Owen, relying chiefly on the structure of the brain, 

 has divided the mammalian series into four sub-classes. One 

 of these he devotes to man; in another he places both the 

 Marsupials and the Monotremata; so that he makes man as 

 distinct from all other mammals as are these two latter groups 

 conjoined. This view has not been accepted, as far as I am 

 aware, by any naturalist capable of forming an independent 

 judgment, and therefore need not here be further considered. 



We can understand why a classification founded on any 

 single character or organ — even an organ so wonderfully 

 complex and important as the brain — or on the high de- 

 velopment of the mental faculties, is almost sure to prove 



' Some of the most interesting facts ever published on the habits of ants 

 are given by Mr. Belt, in his "Naturalist in Nicaragua," 1874. See, also, Mr. 

 Moggridge's admirable work, "Harvesting Ants," etc., 1873; also, "L'Instinct 

 chez les Insectes," by M. George Pouchet, "Revue des Deux Mondes," Feb- 

 ruary, 1870, p. 682. 



