i8 9 4.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



287 



is shown by the Arctic foxes, which sometimes live in troops of a dozen 

 or more. 



The wolves on the other hand often live in large packs, and are said 

 to display not only great perseverance in the pursuit of prey, but not a 

 little intelligence in cutting off its retreat. During part of the year 

 wolves live solitary or in pairs ; when the young have been reared they 

 again assemble in packs ; and it would appear that the social instincts 

 of these animals have been developed from the family affections, and 

 ultimately therefore from the sexual instincts. Sympathy, however, 

 except between mother and suckling young is almost unknown amongst 

 them ; comrades which may have been wounded in the attack on some 

 other animal are relentlessly devoured, and the young would often be 

 eaten by cheir fathers but for. the mothers' protecting care. Cunning, 

 .cruelty and ferocity when acting in concert, cowardice when alone, are 

 the results of the development of aggressive sociality amongst the 

 Canidae ; and with slight modifications this holds good for them through- 

 out the world ; it applies equally to the dingoes of Australia, the 

 jackals and lycaons of South Africa, and the wolves of Europe, Asia and 

 America. 



The absence of sociality amongst the Insectivora, most of which 

 appear to suffer from chronic hunger, and are characterized by great 

 ferocity, has been already referred to ; in the closely allied bats, which 

 are essentially flying Insectivores, with very little intelligence, though 

 large numbers are often found sleeping or hibernating together in 

 suitable localities, it cannot be said that sociality, or even gregariousness, 

 has arisen. Amongst the fruit-eating bats also the large numbers which 

 occur together may fairly be attributed to favourable sleeping and feed- 

 ing grounds, though perhaps in these species the gregarious level has 

 been reached, for they fly as well as feed in large flocks. The single 

 genus placed in the order Dermaptera may also be deemed to have 

 acquired gregarious instincts. 



The very heterogeneous order Lemur oidea includes a number of 

 specialized forms, which are clearly the descendants of more central 

 types, from which the ancestors of the apes emerged. All modern 

 Lemuroid .species are nocturnal animals of relatively low intelligence, 

 and almost entirely arboreal in habit. Some of the species appear to 

 be gregarious, and the indris of Madagascar, which are the largest as 

 well as the most intelligent members of the order, sometimes occur in 

 large numbers. The typical species (Lichanotus indris) is easily tamed, 

 and in some parts of Madagascar is employed to catch birds for its 

 owner. 



Passing now to the last and highest order of mammals, to which we 

 ourselves belong, and of which the American marmosets are perhaps 

 the lowest members, we find that amongst the Platyrrhine apes, which 



