No. 418.] NESTS OF AMERICAN ANTS. SII 
mere epiphenomenon as Morgan explains ('00, p. 208): “ An 
organism — if such exists —in which all the activities are 
throughout life purely automatic and purely instinctive, might 
indeed be conscious, but its consciousness would be of no 
practical value ; for all the activities being, ex hypothest, auto- 
matic, there would be no conscious guidance or control. 
Consciousness might be present as a spectator of the activi- 
ties, but it would be a mere spectator without power of 
guidance, since, in so far as guided by intelligence, activities 
cease to be instinctive. It should be clearly grasped that, in 
so far as an activity is guided by individual control towards 
more complete accuracy, just so far does it cease to be instinc- 
tive, as the word is here used, and become intelligent. And 
when an instinct is, as so often is the case, modified and 
adapted to meet new circumstances, the modification and 
adaptation is no part of the instinct as such, but is due to 
intelligent control. 
“I repeat, then, that in instinct as such consciousness is an 
epiphenomenon or adjunct. But this does not, of course, 
imply that it is absent. Only in so far as consciousness 
accompanies the performance of instinctive activities can 
intelligence get a hold on them for the purpose of control and 
guidance. The performance of automatic activities affords to 
consciousness data, which form a foundation upon which the 
psychical structure reared by intelligence is based." 
Finally, the distinction noted by Spencer, Morgan, and others 
that reflex action is “localized response involving a particular 
Organ or a definite group of muscles initiated by a more or less 
specialized external stimulus," whereas “ instinctive activity is 
a response of the organism as a whole, involving the coópera- 
tion of several organs and many groups of muscles," implies 
only a difference in degree as Marshall (98, p. 100 £7 seq.) and 
Loeb (00, p. 77) have pointed out; for when we extend our 
view to simple as well as complex organisms, and forget for the 
moment the staple experiments of neuro-muscular physiology, 
we must agree with James when he says (90. p. 384) that the 
"actions we call instinctive all conform to the general reflex 
type," and with Marshall (98, p. 100) when he says: “All 
