Page:George Archdall Reid 1896 The present evolution of man.djvu/163

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ORGANIC EVOLUTION—MENTAL
151

shut, and then live for a much longer time when taken out of the water."—Animal Intelligence, p. 25.

"These animals (snails) appear also susceptible of some degree of permanent attachment. An accurate observer, Mr. Lonsdale, informs me that he placed a pair of land-snails (Helix pomatia), one of which was weakly, into a small and ill-provided garden. After a short time the strong and healthy individual disappeared, and was traced by its track of slime over a wall into an adjoining well-stocked garden. Mr. Lonsdale concluded that it had deserted its sickly mate; but after an absence of twenty-four hours it returned, and apparently communicated the result of its successful exploration, for both then started along the same track, and disappeared over the wall."—Descent of Man, pp. 262, 263, quoted by Professor Romanes in Animal Intelligence, p. 27.

Both the oyster and the snail appear capable of acting, in however limited a degree, by virtue of acquired knowledge. That some insects possess this power to a great extent is evident from the fact that enslaved ants acquire mental traits vastly different from those exhibited by the free members of the same species. It should be noted that adult ants are never enslaved, the pupae alone being carried off, so that whatever traits the slaves acquire are acquired under the tuition of their masters.

"When the pupae hatch out in the nest of their captors, the young slaves begin their life of work, and seem to regard their master's home as their own; for they never attempt to escape, and they fight no less keenly than their masters in defence of the nest. F. sanguinea content themselves with fewer slaves than the F. rufescens; and the work that devolves upon