The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-11-22
LIN TATloN OF INSTINCT.
The Lack of the Inventive Faculty In All
XII dis of Insects.

XII dis of Insects
Side by side with the wonderful in
stances recorded of the intelligence Of
the lower animals are to be found
facts betraying their apparent stupidi-
ty. Instinct is a good servant, acting
under the ordinary conditions of life.
but when circumstances become I'M
usual. then her weakness is evident.
Sir John Lubbock gives numerous in
stances of the entire lack of the in
ventive faculty in insects. One species
of the spheX, or wasp, prey upon a
large grasshopper Having disabled
her victim. she drags it along by one
of the antenn9, but if boSh these be
cut off close to the head. it never Oc-
ours to her to grasp leg. She sim
ply leaves her victim in despair.
Again, when this wasp had once
provisiOned a cell with a grasshOpper
and laid an egg there. both eggs and
grasshOpper were removed. The
sphex was allowed to return, but.
though she went into the empty cell
and must have known it to be vacant,
she calmly proceeded to stop up the
opening, as if nothing had happened.
The mason bee constructs an earthen
cell. through which, when it has
maturity, the young insect eats Its
way. Monsieur Fabre found that if
he pasted piece of paper round the
cell the insect had no difficulty in eat
ing through it, but if he also inclOsed
the cell in a paper case, SO that there
was an air space between the cell and
paper, the insect made no attempt to
penetrate the outer paper. Instinct
taught it to bite through one Enclosure,
but it had not wit enough to attempt
second.
Bees are supposed to show high
order of intelligence, as compared
with other insects, but even they have
narrow limitations. There is a species
of bee which builds cells of masonry
and fills them with honey as she goes,
raising the rim little, then making a
few journeys for honey, and. when the
cell is full. covering the top with a
last load of mortar.
Monsieur Fabre once chose nearly
completed cell, and broke away a por-
ton of the wall. The bee mended the
place on her return, the operation
coming in the natural order of her
work. Then the naturalist pierced a
in Of
though the honey exuded through it,
the poor bee continued bringing al
ternate honey and mortar. as if moth
ing had happened.
On another occasion he made a still
larger hole, but. though the little
worker examined it, even pushing her
antenne through it, she had no idea of
making repairs, but continued to pour
in at the top load after load of honey,
which. of course, Immediately ran out
below.
Nor was this all. After hours of
fruitless labor, when she had brought
the usual amount of honey, she laid
her egg and carefully sealed up the
empty cell.
Another instance of the resemblance
of instinct to mere habit is to be found
in the case of caterpillar which
makes complicated sort of hammock.
If a caterpillar was taken from ham,
mock which it had finished up to the
sixth stage of construction. and placed
in one which was completed to the
third stage, it finished its work with
out difficulty. On the other hand, if
one which had reached the third stage
were placed in one which had reached
the sixth. instead of feeling the benefit
of such progress, it became bewild-
cred and seemed forced to return to
the point where it had been inter-
rupted. outh's Companion.