100 



The Naturalist. 



their nature and operation, but they are probably all devoid of any- 

 thing like deduction from premises. 



Instinct, then, seems to be that intuitive faculty which conveys the 

 knowledge of how to act with the best results, with regard to the 

 preservation of life in a state of nature. As soon as an artificial 

 state of existence comes into play, instinct fails to guide, or guides 

 very often wrongly t or, in other words, reason is not powerful enough 

 to correct or modify the promptings of instinct. 



Reason, without entering into any deep psychological enquiries, 

 may be described as the power of connecting ideas and drawing an 

 inference ; but all reason will not bear the test of logical analysis, as 

 it may often be based upon false premises, and from correct premises 

 a wrong inference may be drawn. For these reasons, the actions of. 

 animals will sometimes manifest a perfectly superhuman wisdom, and 

 yet will shew at the same time the most intense and aggravating 

 stupidity. 



With regard to the brain system of caterpillars, I must ask to be' 

 allowed to quote from the well-known entomological work of Messrs. 

 Humphries and Westwood. Humphries says : — " Minute dissections 

 and the closest anatomical examinations have proved that though 

 insects are possessed of nerves, they have no well-defined organ 

 representing our brain — the organ of concentrated feeling, where all 

 the nervous conductors meet. They have instead a chain of ganglia, 

 or bundles of nervous substance, from each of which nerves branch 

 out to the contiguous parts, so that the sensations are not all carried 

 to one grand central focus of acute sensibility as with us, but form, 

 as it were, separate systems, any of which might be destroyed with- 

 out communicating its sensations to the rest." 



It is, however, immaterial for my purpose in what part of the 

 insect the thinking power is lodged — whether in the head, whether 

 in the tail, or whether distributed equally through all the segments ; 

 but I wish to call attention to the fact, that we may sometimes 

 observe in the caterpillar, in addition to its instinctive habits, certain 

 actions which appear to indicate some traces of the operation of the 

 reasoning faculty. There is one remarkable habit common to certain 

 butterflies, moths, beetles, spiders, and caterpillars— that of putting 

 on the semblance of death when captured, or apparently in dread of 

 danger. At such times they will curl themselves up, or fold up 

 their legs, fall helplessly about, and act their part so well, as often 

 to effect their escape. For as soon as the danger is supposed to be 



