likely to be observed and
retained as general habits of the community. Anything of importance that
is gained may be preserved by educative influences. The facility of
mental communication between these creatures is perhaps much greater
than is generally supposed, and acts of importance which are not
directly observed might in many cases be transmitted through repetition
for the benefit of the group. We know this to be the main agency in
human progress. New ideas are of rare occurrence with man. Ideas of
permanent value do not occur to one per cent., perhaps not to one
hundredth of one per cent., of civilized mankind, yet few of such ideas
are lost, and that which has proved of advantage to an individual soon
becomes the common possession of a community.

Among the lower animals new and advantageous ideas are probably of
exceedingly rare occurrence. When they do occur, their advantage to
solitary forms is very slight, being that of minute steps of brain
development and hereditary transmission of the same. To social forms
they are doubly advantageous, since, while they tend to brain
development, they may also be preserved in their original form, and
transmitted directly to members of the group. They are still more
advantageous to the communal animals, from the closer intercourse of
these, and their constant association in acts of mutual aid. But in the
latter instance their influence is usually exerted for the benefit of
the community as a unit, while in the case of social animals it is of
advantage to the individual.

The result of such a process of evolution in the case of the communal
animals is a strict specialism. A series of acts of advantage to the
community are slowly developed, and are repeated so frequently that they
become instinctive, while a fixed circle of duties arises, through whose
links it is almost impossible to break. There is no reason to believe
that the individual initiative is wanting. The varied round of duties of
a community of ants, for instance, could only have arisen through step
after step of progress from the condition of the solitary ants. If such
steps have been made, others may be made, and are likely to be preserved
if found advantageous. The ant individual preserves its powers of
observation and thought and may initiate new processes. But most of the
ant communities are already so excellently adapted to the conditions of
their life as to leave little opportunity for improvement, so tha