INTRODUCTION. 13 



insects give proof of remarkable reflection, sagacity, 

 and intelligence in co-ordinating their actions in the 

 presence of an event to which they are not accustomed, 

 and in attaining an end which has presented itself by 

 accident. Such are, for example, the arrangements 

 which they make to defend their honey against the 

 attacks of a great nocturnal Moth, the Death's Head. 

 I shall have to revert to these facts. 



We must not then regard instinct, as has often been 

 done, as a rudiment of intelligence, susceptible or not 

 of development; but much rather as a series of in- 

 telligent acts at first reasoned, then by their frequent 

 repetition become habitual, reflex, and at last, by 

 heredity, instinctive. 



What the individual loses in individuality and in 

 personal initiative, heredity restores to him in the 

 form of instinct which is, as it were, the condensed 

 and accumulated intelligence of his ancestors. He 

 himself no longer needs to take thought either to 

 preserve his life or to assure the perpetuation of his 

 race. The qualities which he received at birth render 

 reflection less necessary ; thus species endowed with 

 some powerful instinct seem not to be intelligent 

 when they live sheltered from unforeseen events. 



From one point of view instinct appears to be a 

 degradation rather than a perfecting of intelligence, 

 because the acts which proceed from it are neither 

 so spontaneous nor so personal; but from another 

 point of view they are much better executed, with kss 

 hesitation, with a slighter expenditure of cerebral 

 force and a minimum of muscular effort. A habitual 

 act costs us much less to execute than a deliberate 

 and reflective act. It is thus that the constructions of 

 bees are more perfect than those of ants; the former 



