566 General Notes. [May, 
to the inherited mechanism of the nervous system, which is 
formed to respond to particular and often recurring stimuli, by 
giving rise to particular movements of an adaptive though not of 
an intentional kind. 
“Instinct is reflex action into which there is imported the ele- 
ment of consciousness. The term is therefore a generic one, 
comprising all those faculties of mind which are concerned in 
conscious and adaptive action, antecedent to individual experi- 
ence, without necessary knowledge of the relation between means 
employed and ends attained, but similarly performed under simi- 
lar and frequently recurring circumstances by all the individuals 
of the same species. 
“Reason or intelligence is the faculty which is concerned in 
the intentional adaptation of means to ends. It therefore implies 
the conscious knowledge of the relation between means employ 
and ends attained, and may be exercised in adaptation to circum- 
stances novel alike to the experience of the individual and to that 
of the species.” ? : 
These definitions, are, it seems to us, an improvement, in most 
respects, on any which have yet been made, though in thatof 
instinct the idea that instinct is the sum of inherited, originally | 
conscious habits, might have been more distinctly emphasi 
. J. Murphy’s definition, to which Romanes does not refer, that 
“instinct is the sum of inherited habits,” is neat and terse. The 
ed not under 
facts recorded in the different chapters are arrang 
pected, but roughly under the general heads of genera i 
gence, memory, &c. Chapters are devoted to ants, bees, wasps, 
nkey. 
Of course any one can supply a number of published po 
dotes and statements which the author has omitted; perhaps in 
lack of acquaintance with the literature, so scattered a w 
inaccessible. While speaking of the architectural habits jes ! 
ive bee, one wonders that the author had not acquainted we á 
with the late Professor Wyman’s remarkable paper on the ¢ ma 
the honey bee, as well as Reaumur and Maraldi’s observèt iig 
but these, perhaps, were beside his purpose. Mr. Dall ese x 
this journal (Dec., 1882) on the intelligence in a snai: ing it 
power of recognizing a call or sound, and of distinguish Bo 
from other sounds, was overlooked. As regards the intelligen? 
of crabs, the case of “homing” instinct noticed by an English 
server, would have been in place. A number ot tYP">* — 
errors somewhat mar the book. =“ oe ‘the sub- 
On the whole, the work is an excellent contribution oe 
ject, though we must confess to a shade of disappoln” ” 
here and there as tothe method of treatment, as from Fir” 
other writings we had expected something a grain nave atic 
has, moreover, failed to notice some authors who 4 Ma. 
SE A eee SN SNE ERTS S SPN Le ame A REE mes San me SPREA oe ea 
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