THE IGNORANCE OF INSTINCT

Too Long; Didn't Read

The Sphex has shown us how infallibly and with what transcendental art she acts when guided by the unconscious inspiration of her instinct; she is now going to show us how poor she is in resource, how limited in intelligence, how illogical even, in circumstances outside of her regular routine. By a strange inconsistency, characteristic of the instinctive faculties, profound wisdom is accompanied by an ignorance no less profound. To instinct nothing is impossible, however great the difficulty may be. In building her hexagonal cells, with their floors consisting of three lozenges, the Bee solves with absolute precision the arduous problem of how to achieve the maximum result at a minimum cost, a problem whose solution by man would demand a powerful mathematical mind. The Wasps whose larvæ live on prey display in their murderous art methods hardly rivalled by those of a man versed in the intricacies of anatomy and physiology. Nothing is difficult to instinct, so long as the act is not outside the unvarying cycle of animal existence; on the other hand, nothing is easy to instinct, if the act is at all removed from the course usually pursued. The insect which astounds us, which terrifies us with its extraordinary intelligence, surprises us, the next moment, with its stupidity, when confronted with some simple fact that happens to lie outside its ordinary practice. The Sphex will supply us with a few instances.