INSECTS
are, on the contrary, specific attributes that are conditioned by circumstances. An act that is right is one in accord with the nature of the creature performing it; that which is wrong is a contrary act. Hence, what is right for one species of animal may be wrong for another, and the reverse.
Fig. 75. A common species of termite of eastern North America inhabiting dead wood, Reticulitermes flavipes.
A, B, winged forms, C, a soldier. D, workers
The conduct of adult human individuals, according to human standards of right and wrong, we call morals; the similar conduct of other animals is a part of what biologists call behavior. But we unconsciously recognize something in common between morals and behavior when we speak of the acts of a child, which we call his behavior rather than his morals. Behavior, in other words, we regard as involving less of personal responsibility than morality. Hence we say that animals and children behave, but that adult human beings consciously do right or wrong. Yet, the two modes of action accomplish similar results: if the child behaves properly, his actions are right; if the adult has a proper]y developed moral sense, he too does the right thing, or at least he terrains from doing the wrong thing unless misguided by circumstances or by his reasoning.
Animals other than the human, it appears, generally do what is right from their standpoint; but their actions, we say, are instinctive. Some will insist that the terms "right" and "wrong" can have no application to them. Substitute then, if you please, the expression "appropriate or non-appropriate to the ani-
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