und again
in lower vertebrates.

Pain is much less developed in insects than in warm-blooded vertebrates.
Otherwise, one could not see either an ant, with its abdomen or antennae
cut off, gorge itself with honey; or a humble-bee, in which the antennae
and all the front of the head had been removed, go to find and pillage
flowers; or a spider, the foot of which had been broken, feed
immediately on this, its own foot, as I myself have seen; or, finally, a
caterpillar, wounded at the "tail" end, devour itself, beginning behind,
as I have observed more than once.

_IV.--Insect Reason and Passions_

Insects reason, and the most intelligent among them, the social
hymenoptera, especially the wasps and ants, even reason much more than
one is tempted to believe when one observes the regularly recurring
mechanism of their instincts. To observe and understand these
reasonings well, it is necessary to mislead their instinct. Further, one
may remark little bursts of plastic judgment, of combinations--extremely
limited, it is true--which, in forcing them an instant from the beaten
track of their automatism, help them to overcome difficulties, and to
decide between two dangers. From the point of view of instinct and
intelligence, or rather of reason, there are not, therefore, absolute
contrasts between the insect, the mammal, and the man.

Finally, insects have passions which are more or less bound up with
their instincts. And these passions vary enormously, according to the
species. I have noted the following passions or traits of character
among ants: choler, hatred, devotion, activity, perseverance, and
gluttony. I have added thereto the discouragement which is sometimes
shown in a striking manner at the time of a defeat, and which can become
real despair; the fear which is shown among ants when they are alone,
while it disappears when they are numerous. I can add further the
momentary temerity whereby certain ants, knowing the enemy to be
weakened and discouraged, hurl themselves alone in the midst of the
black masses of enemies larger than themselves, hustling them without
taking the least further precaution.

When we study the manners of an insect, it is necessary for us to take
account of its mental faculties as well as of its sense organs.
Intelligent insects make better use of their senses, especially by
combining them in various ways. It is possible to study such insects in
their homes in a more varied and more compl