The Dawn of Reason; or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals

subject into four parts; viz., Memory of Locality (Surroundings), Memory of Friends (Kindred),

e remembered the route to and from the spore-cell. The same must be said of the water-louse observed by myself, which not only came back to the source of its food-supply, but also returned to a certain lurking-spot at which it hid itself each time until it had eaten the hydra buds. It must be remembered that a journey of one inch, to t

has been often quoted, clearly proves that this creature does possess this psychical function. Mr. Lonsdale placed two snails in a small and badly kept garden. One of them was weak and poorly nourished, the other strong and well. The strong one disappeared and was traced by its slimy track over a wall into a n

cenes and surroundings. At first, owing to her fright, she will dash away helter-skelter; but soon recovering, she will head in the direction of home, and moderate her pace until she creeps along at a very cautious and circumspect gait, indeed. Every now and then she will climb a tall grass-

she comes to country which she has hunted over, and with which she is familiar, memory comes in

asps build in the interstices between the bricks of a pavement in front of my house. When one leaves her tunnel she will fly about the orifice for several seconds (taking observations) before she finally flies away. When she

er, about three inches on all sides of the orifice uncovered. When the wasp returned she seemed

which seemed to me to be nearer a natural happening than the former experiment. I believe that, in st

the interstices between them, for several feet around the orifice of the tunnel

er domicile. She flew here and there and round about, but she would not alight

. The sense of direction, which a vast majority of the lower animals possess in some degree, is, howeve

ong-horned beetles appear to be rovers, but these are always males, and their roving habits are due to sexual promptings. The females are, however, to a great extent, homing animals, and do not wander far after they have once established a home. Being creatures which recognize certain surroundings as home, they must, necessarily, have some memory of locali

ls had its home for many years in my lawn, and I have often satisfied myself in regard to its knowledge of locality. I have frequently

seemed intent only on arriving at its home as quickly as possible. Finally, when it arrived among familiar surroundings, it would begi

ed in insects; therefore, the higher animals will only be studied incidentally. Suffice it to say that, among the h

scribed by Sir John Lubbock. Most of his experiments and observations have been verified by myself,

lly escaped, met and recognized their former companions, fell to mutual caresses with their antenn?, took them up by their mandibles, and led them to their own nests; they came presently in a crowd to seek the fugitives under and about the artificial ant-hi

ly became satisfied with their new home. Four months thereafter, I put three of these ants, previously marked with a paint of zinc oxide and gum arabic, into their former nest. They were at once recognized by t

They were at once recognized by the colonists, which received them, as it were, with open arms and began to cleanse their bodies

their kindred; when the marked ants were put into the nest they were at once seized by the other ants, which pulled them about the nest

whether the failure of the latter to recognize their friends at once was due, however,

inodis clearly demonstrate that these

inodis so that one half were in one nest, A, and the o

from nest A. They were marked with a spot of color. One of them i

nd a friend from nest A. In the evening the f

nest A. They did not show any enmity. I then put in a strang

ze their kin at sight, and that they are able to reme

s taken from contiguous nests as well as those located some distance apart, and, in one instance, with ants taken from a nest in another part of the country. He states that, i

in the case of ants taken from opposite sides of the house, which, probably, sprang from two different sources, there was, invariably, much fighting, in which not a few of the combatants lost their lives. Whether or not the Ameri

fly, placed her on a strange nest. She was at once attacked, and was soon stung to death. I kept a wasp confined in a glass for three weeks, carefully feeding her meanwhile, and

hese faculties of the mind as plainly as do wasps and ants. This is probably due to the fact that bees a

ially in monkeys, is quite well developed, and is

even after three years had passed by. I might enumerate quite a number of instances like these, but think it hardly necessary; any one who has paid any attention to natural history has seen evidences of this phase of memory in animals. I will, however, give one more illustration of this form of memory, which, in my opinion, is quite remarkable. In my front yard, last summer, there dwelt a large colony of bumblebees. One day, in a moment of idleness, I tossed a tennis ball, with which I was teaching a young dog to retrieve, into the nest. The dog dashed after it, scratching up the ground and barking loud

ual development. I have every reason for believing that even the toad remembers individuals, at least, it remembers the sound of some particular voice or whistle. It most certainly remembers localities and places, and that, too, when unaided by its sense of direction which it possesses in a high degree. A toad which I

evinced such unmistakable evidences of a recognition of my individual person, that more than one observer became convinc

ome to the edge of the table which was close beside my bed, and regard me intently with her beady black eyes. Finally she became so tame that she would take flies and insects from my fingers. She learned to know me so well that she could easily tell the difference when oth

iger beetle (so called from its peculiar claviger, or club-shaped antenn?), which seems to be a well-beloved friend and companion, and which is always treated with great kindness.[39] These little beetles sometimes leave the nest, and may be observed sunning themselves at the entrance. The busy workers are never so busy but that they can spend a fraction of a second for the purpose of caressing their diminutive playmates. On one occasion, a swarm was about to take place in one of my formicaries. The young princes and princesses had emerged and had congregated about the entrance; they seemed loath to take wing and fly away on their honeymoon jaunt out i

one bug also live in ants' nests, and seem to occupy places in the affection of the maste

ceedingly low; this is a popular error, for many reptiles give evidence, on occasions, of a, comparativel

ecame hungry, he would follow me about the room like a dog or a cat. He would wind his way up my legs and body, until

(some visitors knew "Blacky" quite well and were not at a

tickling me with their sharp little claws until I, too, was forced into making a tour of discovery, in order to bring them once more to the light. But let a stranger enter the room, and, presto! they were gone in the twinkling of an eye. I left home on one occasion and was gone for two months. When I came to my room and sat down at my desk, I looked about for my little pets, and could not see them. I had come to the conclusion that they had either died or escaped from the room, when suddenly I saw a tiny little head peep out

and, whenever I approached its cage, would erect its crest and regard me in the most belligerent manner. On several occasions it even left its perch and flew to the bars in its desire to attack me. A large, hand

ly wonderful manner. When he goes into the garden the sparrow will fly to him, sometimes alighting on his head, at other times on his shoulder, all the while pouring out a tumultuous song of praise and gratitude. It wi

e occasion I even placed my hand on a brooding cardinal, which merely fluttered from beneath it without showing further alarm; yet no wild bird has ever evinced toward myself any special degree of friendship. When I was a lad I

well known to himself, and, by dint of much pushing with his strong, yellow feet, would squeeze himself through, and rejoin his companion with many a guttural quack and flirt of his tail. If "Chung" desired to take a bath, he would make for the brook, where "One Lung" would soon join him, always remaining, however, on the bank, where he would strut about and crow continuously. On one occasion, a chicken-hawk attacked the cock, which, though it defended itself valiantly, was in great danger of being destroyed. The drake soon became aware of what wa

ome, the drake recognized him "afar off" and came hurrying to meet him with flapping wings and much vociferation. He caressed him with his bill, and appeared to make a close examination of

l, either in the manger, on the floor, or perched upon his back. This last position was a favorite one, and it was only abandoned when the hen was in search of food. Wh

ollow the cow, whereupon he disclaimed all knowledge of any dog, declaring that he had not allowed a dog on his premises for many years. The next morning I was at his cow-house before the animal was turned out. When this occurred I followed her. A few blocks from her home, she was met by the dog, which bounded about her and showed his delight by wagging his tail. When she returned home in the evening he accompanied her until he arrived at his own home (the place where he met her in the morning), when he left her and crawled through a hole in the fence. His owner declared that his dog had been leaving home early in the morning and returning in the evening during the entir

iend. What is more wonderful, the hog appeared to be just as fond of his dog friend, and always greeted him with a series of delighted grunts. If

ith the single exception of the dog (I do not include the cat, for I doubt her friendship), rarely accept man as a companion and friend spontaneously. Their appetites or the exigencies of their surroundings very frequently occasion them to act in a friendly manner towards man, simply in order to induce him to befrien

eeper that I believed that the monkey wished to make friends with me; that the tones of its voice were decidedly pacific. He laughed at the idea, and declared that this same animal had bitten him severely when he was removing it from the box in which it had been shipped to the cage in which it was then confined. I said nothing more, but, going behind the rail, inserted my hand between the bars of the cage. The monkey immediately seized it with its paws, kissed it,

vented a name for me, so the keeper declared, yet his friendship never got beyond tolerance. But he loved the cat, and the cat seemed to love him-that is, as much as a cat could love. He could not bear to have her taken from his cage; whenever this was done he would rage up

and retired to the rear of his den. He would avoid the cat, whenever she approached him, by moving about the cage. Finally, he became very angry, and seizing po

own considerably during this interval, yet "Joe" recognized her at once,

e dog, horse, cat, ox, elephant, monk

. In fact, psychical development is based almost wholly upon this mental attribute. The vast majority of what are now entirely instinctive habits were, in the beginning, the re

d by some transparent, translucent substance; she then proceeded on a voyage of discovery, flying around the room and searching here and there and everywhere for an exit. She finally found a small hole in a window casing which communicated with the outside; through this she made her escape from the room. Upon opening the window I saw her examining the passage through which she had come, going through it repeatedly. She finally flew away, but shortly returned with a pellet of mud. Notwithstanding the fact that all the windows were then open, the wasp went at once to the hole in the casing, through which she made her way into the room and thence to her nest on the ceiling. She never again, so far as I was able to ascertain, made a

r and trainer. The mere fact that they possessed memory enough to learn, retain, and remember their lessons is not proof positive of reason, but the fact of their having restrained their natural tendency and desire to escape, when they could so easily gratify such a desire or tendency, is a potent factor in an argument for their posse

taught. I, myself, have succeeded in teaching a toad to hop over a stick at the word of command. Again, I taught two chameleons to take certain positions and to retain them at feeding time. These little creatures remembered their lesson, and at my whistle would "line up" on the particular book that I had designated as their dining-table. We hav

TNO

escent of Man,

20; also by Kirby and Spence, Introduction to Entomology, Vol. III

s, Bees, and Wasp

, loc. cit.

ck, Ants, Bees, an

months, yet they never forgot each other, an