No. 554] ADAPTATION IN ANIMAL REACTIONS 85 



ua] animal movements the material for his- study. 

 Broadly speaking, these movements range from the hid- 

 den internal processes in the animal economy to the more 

 obvious external forms of behavior. 



The very fact that adaptations have been classed 

 under one head to the exclusion of other forms of ani- 

 mal reactions has given them a certain undue promi- 

 nence, but this is not the only reason for their usurping 

 more than a fair share of attention. Many animal reac- 

 tions that are in no proper sense adaptations have been 

 brought under this head, and in certain quarters this 



rocess of appropriation lias gone to su< 



•h an 



extent that 



rery animal reaction has been suppose 



gd to 



have some 



laptive significance. How far this is 



fron 



1 the truth 



m be made clear by a homely example. 



Whi 



m a person 



lints, his best position for recovery is ; 



a hor 



izontal one, 







rv likely t o 



ill. Furthermore, he falls with limp m 





3, a method 



hich under the circumstances is mndi 





r than that 



of falling with a tense body such as usually occurs in con- 

 sciousness. Thus the position into which a fainting per- 

 son falls and the method of arriving at it, have all the 

 appearances of adaptations. Yet, in my opinion, any 

 one who would interpret these movements as adapta- 

 tions would lay himself open to a charge of unreality. 

 I lie new position, favorable as it is for recovery, is in 

 fact the mere consequence of the faint, and as such it 

 completely loses any claim as an adaptation. That it is 

 advantageous is purely incidental; it might equally well 

 have been disadvantageous. Thus responses, even when 

 of a favorable nature, are not necessarily adaptations, 

 though they may resemble them to a striking degree. 

 An adaptation is not only a favorable response, it is a 

 favorable response especially developed to meet a par- 

 ticular emergency. 



If it is so easy to point out pseudo-adaptations among 

 our own activities, it is highly probable that they also 

 occur among the responses of the lower animals. And 



