Part 48

Note 60: p. 256.--Instinct of the Lemming.

A discussion of the strange instinct of the lemming, remarkable in its apparent fatality, will be found in Romanes’s Mental Evolution in Animals.

Note 61: p. 258.--Numbers of Springbok.

“I beheld the plains and even the hillsides which stretched on every side of me thickly covered, not with herds, but with one vast mass of springboks; as far as the eye could strain the landscape was alive with them, until they softened down into a dim red mass of living creatures. To endeavour to form any idea of the number of antelopes which I had that day beheld were vain, but I have no hesitation in saying that some hundreds of thousands were within the compass of my vision.”--Gordon Cumming. With this should be compared what other sportsmen and travellers have in recent years told us of rapidly diminishing numbers.

Note 62: p. 260.--The Monkey Question.

The position of evolutionists in regard to the relations of man and monkeys is conveniently stated in Huxley’s Man’s Place in Nature. A criticism of the thorough-going evolutionist position, from the philosopher’s point of view, will be found in Professor Calderwood’s Evolution and Man’s Place in Nature. A midway position is indicated in Wallace’s Darwinism.

While most naturalists are now thoroughly evolutionist in regard to the descent or ascent of man, as in regard to other problems, most would probably agree with Lloyd Morgan’s cautious conclusion:--

“In denying to animals the perception of relations and the faculty of reason, I do so in no dogmatic spirit, and not in support of any preconceived theory or opinion, but because the evidence now before us is not, in my opinion, sufficient to justify the hypothesis that any animals have reached that stage of mental evolution at which they are even incipiently rational.”

Probably all naturalists allow that animals who profit by experience and adapt their actions to varying circumstances are intelligent. But cases which force us to credit animals with general ideas, with “thinking the therefore”, in short, with reason, are admitted by few.

LOVE AND COURTSHIP AMONG BIRDS.

While admiring the vigorous protest which Brehm makes in this chapter against the interpretation which regards animals as automata, I feel that he has hardly done justice to it. In general terms, the interpretation is that animals act as they do in virtue of an inherited organic mechanism which responds in a uniform manner to certain stimuli. That this is true of many animal and even human actions, especially in early youth, seems highly probable. That it only covers a small fraction of animal behaviour is certain. But even those who go furthest in extending the scope of animal automatism, do not say that an automatic act may not be accompanied by consciousness, they only say that it is not controlled by consciousness. See Huxley, Are Animals automata? in his collected Essays: and Lloyd Morgan, Introduction to Comparative Psychology.

Note 63: p. 272.--Sexual Selection.

For a statement of the doctrine of sexual selection, the original document--Darwin’s Descent of Man--should be consulted. But the theory has met with strong criticism, e.g. on the part of Alfred Russel Wallace, see his Darwinism. See also The Evolution of Sex, by Geddes and Thomson, and Lloyd Morgan’s Animal Life and Intelligence.

Note 64: p. 279.--Polygamous Birds.

Darwin has discussed the question of polygamous birds in his Descent of Man.

Note 65: p. 281.--The Widowed Bird.

For one of the finest expressions in literature of the possible emotions of the widowed bird, we may be allowed to refer to Walt Whitman’s “Out of the cradle endlessly rocking” (Leaves of Grass).

APES AND MONKEYS.

Note 66: p. 285.--Descent from Monkeys.

Hanumân, the sacred Hindoo long-tailed monkey, plays an important part in Hindoo mythology. He was the friend of Vishnu during his incarnation as Rama Chandra, and he aided the god greatly in the search for his wife Sita, who had been carried off by Ravān. A female slave, who had tended Sita kindly during her captivity, was married to Hanumân as a reward, and this pair some Indian noble families proudly claim as ancestors.

Note 67: p. 286.--Monkeys on the Rock of Gibraltar.

A letter written in 1880 by an officer in Gibraltar to the Field newspaper and quoted in vol. i. of the Royal Natural History gives the number living on the Rock at that time as twenty-five, among whom were only two adult males. There had been several gangs of them at one time, but they had done so much damage in the town gardens that they had been nearly exterminated by means of traps and poison. But in 1856, when their numbers had been reduced to four or five, a garrison order was issued forbidding further destruction of them, and since that time they have been strictly preserved and regularly counted. In 1863, four were imported from Africa, and after a time were admitted as members of the band. Another attempt was made in 1872 to reinforce their numbers, but it was unsuccessful.

Note 68: p. 290.--Habits of Monkeys.

See Mr. Garner’s observations on monkeys (Speech of Monkeys, 1893); Hartmann’s Apes and Monkeys (Internat. Science Series), Romanes’s Animal Intelligence and Mental Evolution in Animals. H. A. Forbes, A Handbook to the Primates (Allen’s Naturalist’s Library; Lond. 1894). Mr. Havelock Ellis in his Man and Woman (Lond. 1894) has some interesting notes on the relation of young monkeys and young children to the adult forms.

Note 69: p. 291.--Death from Grief.

Instances of death from grief are given in Romanes’s Animal Intelligence. See also a paper by Mr. Garner in Harper’s Monthly, 1894.

Note 70: p. 298.--Speech of Monkeys.

See Mr. Garner’s Speech of Monkeys (Lond. 1893), which tends to support Brehm’s view. But in reference to Garner’s work, Lloyd Morgan says, “Of the nine sounds made by capuchins, not one is, so far as the observations go, indubitably indicative of a particular object of desire. All of them may be, and would seem to be, in the emotional stage, and expressive of satisfaction, discontent, alarm, apprehension, and so forth. Still they may be indicative of particular objects of appetence or aversion; and experiments with the phonograph, conducted with due care and under test-conditions, may do much to throw light upon an interesting and important problem.” After careful consideration, Prof. Lloyd Morgan says, “At present, however, there is not, so far as I am aware, any evidence that animals possess powers of descriptive intercommunication involving perception of relations”.