340 
The N'atu^^alist in La Plata. 
among naturalists on the subject. Here it is, in Dr. 
Romanes’ words : We may readily imagine that the 
instinct displayed by many herbivorous animals of 
goring sick and wounded companions, is really of 
use in countries where the presence of weak members 
in a herd is a source of danger to the herd from 
the prevalence of wild beasts.” Here it is assumed 
that the sick are set upon and killed, but this is 
not the fact ; sickness and decay from age or some 
other cause are slow things, and increase imper- 
ceptibly, so that the sight of a drooping member 
grows familiar to the herd, as does that of a member 
with some malformation, or unusual shade of colour, 
or altogether white, as in the case of an albino. 
Sick and weak members, as we have seen, while 
subject to some ill-treatment from their companions 
(only because they can be ill-treated with impunity), 
do not rouse the herd to a deadly animosity ; the 
violent and fatal attack is often as not made on a 
member in perfect health and vigour and un wounded, 
although, owing to some accident, in great distress, 
and perhaps danger, at the moment. 
The instinct is, then, not only useless but actually 
detrimental ; and, this being so, the action of the 
herd in destroying one of its members is not even 
to be regarded as an instinct proper, but rather as 
an aberration of an instinct, a blunder, into which 
animals sometimes fall when excited to action in 
unusual circumstances. 
The first thing that strikes us is that in these 
wild abnormal moments of social animals, they are 
actino* in violent contradiction to the whole tenor 
of their lives ; that in turning against a distressed 
