TRACHEATES 



215 



It has been claimed that voluntary actions of this 

 kind that have become instinctive, or habits such as 

 these, may be inherited. That, however, is not found 

 to be the case with the pianist ; his son must learn the 

 art himself laboriously. It is the same with reading 

 and writing. 



Thus we see from the start that all voluntary 

 actions that have become instinctive are not inherited. 

 It is true, say the Lamarckians, that all habits are not 

 transmitted, but the instincts we find in the animal 

 world are inherited actions that have passed from 

 voluntary to instinctive. There are instincts so wonder- 

 ful that we can only conceive them as impulses perfected 

 by intelligence, which have reached their present height 

 by the inheritance of such usage during a long series of 

 generations. 



But when we examine the impulses of animals, we 

 find that in a large number of them this conception 

 is quite impossible. There are instincts which it is 

 impossible to imagine as having ever been initiated by 

 the will of the animal, or having been improved by use. 

 This is clear in the course of one of the most original 

 impulses — that of flying from enemies. 



When a fly darts away from the hand that tries to 

 capture it, this is certainly not a voluntary act that has 

 become a habit by practice and been transmitted as such 

 to posterity. It can hardly be supposed that the fly 

 knows what it is to be killed. Nor can it ever learn by 

 experience how swiftly it must fly, as every insect that 

 does not get away promptly loses its life. Finally, the 

 action is clearly seen to be unintelligent from the fact 



