| → Difficulties on the theory 1859 1860 |
| Changes of instinct and structure not necessarily simultaneous— Difficulties on the theory 1861 1866 |
| Changes of instinct and structure not necessarily simultaneous— Difficulties 1869 1872 |
|
| → Natural 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| theory of the Natural 1869 1872 |
|
| → THE subject of instinct might have been worked into the previous chapters; but I have thought that it would be more convenient to treat the subject separately, especially as 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| INSTINCTS might have been worked into the previous chapters; but I thought that it would be more convenient to treat the subject separately, especially as 1869 |
| MANY instincts are 1872 |
|
| → so wonderful an instinct as that of the hive-bee making its cells 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| an instinct so wonderful as that of the construction of the comb by the hive-bee 1869 |
| so wonderful that their development 1872 |
|
| → have occurred to many readers, as 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| appear to the reader 1872 |
|
| → qualities of animals within 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| faculties in animals of 1872 |
|
|
CHAPTER
|
| INSTINCT. |
| Instincts comparable with habits, but different in their origin— Instincts graduated— Aphides and ants— Instincts variable— Domestic instincts, their origin— Natural instincts of the cuckoo,
and parasitic bees—
Hive-bee, its cell-making instinct—
→Difficulties on the theory
of the
→Natural
Selection of instincts— Neuter or sterile insects— Summary. |
|
→THE subject of instinct might have been worked into the previous chapters; but I have thought that it would be more convenient to treat the subject separately, especially as
→so wonderful an instinct as that of the hive-bee making its cells
will probably
→have occurred to many readers, as
a difficulty sufficient to overthrow
whole theory. I
premise, that I have nothing to do with the origin of the
mental powers, any more than I have with that of life itself. We are concerned only with the diversities of instinct and of the other mental
→qualities of animals within
the same class. |
|
| I will not attempt any definition of instinct. It would be easy to show that several distinct mental actions are commonly embraced by this term; but every one understands what is meant, when it is said that instinct impels the cuckoo to migrate and to lay her eggs in other birds' nests. An action, which we ourselves
require experience to enable us to perform, when performed by an animal, more especially by a very young one, without
experience, and when performed by many individuals in the same way, without their knowing for what purpose it is performed, is usually said to be instinctive.
|
