38 
The neuter Termites are blind and can have no sense of light in their 
internal or subterranean burrowings ; yet they will undermine build- 
ings and pulverize various parts of elaborate furniture without once 
gnawing through to the surface, and those species which use clay will 
fill up their burrowings to strengthen the supports of structures which 
might otherwise fall and injure the insects or betray their work. The 
bat in a lighted room, though blinded as to sight, will fly in all direc- 
tions with such swiftness and infallible certainty of avoiding concussion 
or contact, that its feeling at a distance is practically incomprehensible 
to us. 
The manner in which anything threatens its welfare thrills and agi- 
tates one of these insect communities, and causes every individual to 
act at once for the common good, has been noted by all observers, and 
is a good illustration in point. It may be likened to the manner in 
which the same conditions influence communities of other animals, 
including man. There are emergencies when intuitive feeling dispos- 
sesses reason, and every capable person seems blindly urged to definite 
Fig. 13. — Antenna of male Phengodes with portion of ray.— Greatly enlarged (original.) 
action for the protection of the community, regardless of consequence. 
The war cry of a nation is an example in point, and violations of other- 
wise just, but tedious, processes of law are under certain circumstances 
deemed justifiable. I shall never forget the emotion that influenced 
the citizens of Chicago the day following their great fire in 1871. Rea- 
son, argument, judgment, were in abeyance. The quicker, intuitive 
processes prevailed, and to meet lawlessness and the tendency to incen- 
diarism, every right-minded citizen was ready to do vigilant duty, 
regardless of personal interest, every incendiary being hanged to the 
nearest lamp-post without ado or delay. It was the universal and deep- 
seated instinct of self-preservation. 
Telepathy. — But however difficult it may be to define this intuitive 
sense which, while apparently combining some of the other senses, has 
many attributes peculiar to itself, and however difficult it may be for 
us to analyze the remarkable sense of direction, there can be no doubt 
that many iusects possess the power of communicating at a distance, 
of which we can form some conception by what is known as telepathy 
in man. This power would seem to depend neither upon scent nor upon 
