178 



The Naturalist. 



We also collected another rare mollusc at Irvine, in the river 

 Irvine, — this time a bivalve, Anodonta cygnea, var. incrassata, the 

 same variety that we found in Nostel Priory lake last summer. I 

 am glad to have to record this genus from Scotland, and this variety 

 especially, as Jeffreys gives no specific district where they may be 

 found, but just lets us know that they occur as far north as Banff. 

 I have at various times investigated many of the watercourses, ponds, 

 &c., in Banff, Murray, Forfar, Perth, and the Lothians, but this is 

 the first time I have met with this genus in Scotland. Of course 

 there is still ample room for investigation, and it is possible it 

 may yet be found in some of the counties just named. 



THE REASONING OR NON-REASONING POWERS OF 



CATERPILLARS. 



ByS.D.Bairstow. 

 {ABSTRACT.] 



The object of this paper (which was read before the Huddersfield 

 Naturalists' Society) is to controvert the conclusions arrived at by 

 Mr. S. Everard Woods, in his paper published in the Naturalist^ 

 vol. ii., pp. 97 to 104. 



Mr. Bairstow opens his paper with some remarks on Instinct and 

 Reason generally, and then demands who can define where the one 

 ends and the other begins, quoting two authors, one of whom (Mr. 

 Woods) conceives that " caterpillars are impelled by a higher and 

 more effective agency than instinct whilst another says : — " In no 

 sense whatever can they be complimented with the faculty of reason 

 or its equivalent, but they are guided solely and imconditionally by 

 the voice of Nature, by the gnawings of hunger, the terrors of 

 approaching evil, and preparing mechanically for the varied metamor- 

 phoses through which they pass." To this latter class Mr. Bairstow 

 says he belongs. " Reason discerns and acts — instinct acts only ; 

 reason meditates and draws inferences — instinct operates mechanic- 

 ally. The most able scientist cannot produce a theory of universal 

 satisfaction to demonstrate what is that higher power than reason 

 which the male Carpini exhibits in its pursuit of love, travelling 

 fleetly over acres and miles, attracted by some incomprehensible 

 power pertaining to its better half," referring to the experiment 

 given by Mr. Woods (loc. cit. 103). He also refers to Mr. Woods* 



