Abstract: THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LAUdE. 1 lmv(^intentionally Hlni|)lillc(l the Rciontitlt' fuclK UH far hh |>oMHil>It>.TIuih, inHtftid of ttayin;; that tli*' (rroiindt^ct ix a ooMiitoHito, I liavu Haiil tliiit it in a <Iaisy liy fiiinily ; and iiistciul of Haying that th(t aMi'idian htrva hi>h>ng.s to thoHiih-kinixtloin C'honhita, 1 have* waid that it is H tirsl cousin of tho tadpolo.I'ov t\n'M\ HiniitHtications, I hu[iu t(M-hni<'al Lioh)(;i.>»tHwill pardon mo.After all, if you rtish to ho understood, it is hest to speak to people in words whose in(>an-in^^s they know.Now, bees and flics and ants have got much tho same sort of arrangement, on a smaller scale, within their tiny heads.On top of tho little knots which do duty as nerve-centres for their eyes and mouths, stand two stalked bits of nervous mat- ter, whose duty is analogous to that of our own brains.And that is why these three sorts of insects think and reason so much more intellectually than bee- tles or butterflies, and why the larger THK EVOMTTIONIHT AT LAROK.I'll! 3 I tho part of ihoin Imvn orffi»n!zo<l their <l<i.liK'Htiir Hri'aiii.>;ciiiciititon hiicIi an cxct'l- Ictlt CO-OlMTJitiVf [llilll.Wo know wril )>iioii<r)i wliat fonns tlio main niatcrial of tlioui;lit with ti«M'i ami tlics, and tliat Ih visihh; oltjcctH, Kor yoii iniiHt tliinL alunit sowrl/niii/ if von think at all ; and you can hardly nna<{ino u contuinplative l>li>w-Hv Hot- tin;^its(!lf down to rcHttct, liko a flindn dcvotot', on tlio Kylhililo Oni, or on tlu! ononoHS of oxiKtiinco.Ahstract idoan Mi' not likely to play a larj^c part in a[iian consciousncas.A hoe has a vory pcrft'rt vyv, and with tliisoyn it can hoc not only form, hut also color, as Sir John Lnlihock's cx[»orimonts have shown ns.Tiio information which it ^ots through its eye, coupled with other ideas derived from touch, smell, and taste, no douht makes up tho main thinkaltlc and knowablo universo as it reveals itself to tho apian intellivj;eneo.To ourselves atjd to bees alike tho world is, on tho whole, a colored picture, with tho notions of distance and solidity thrown in by touch and muscular effort ; but sight nndotibtedly plays the first part in ft)rming our total conception of things generally.What, however, forms tho thinkable universe of those littlo anta running to and fro so eagerly at my feet ?That is A (piestion which used long to puzzle me in my afternoon walks.Tho ant lias a brain and an intelligence, but that brain and that intolligonco must have been developed out of something.Ex nihilo nihil fit.You cannot think and hnow if you have nothing to think about.The intelligence of tho bee and tho fly was evolved in tho course of their flying about and looking at things : the more they flew, and the more they saw, tho more they knew ; and tho more brain they got to think with.But the ant does not generally fly, and, as with most comparatively unlocomotivc animals, its sight is bad.True, tho winged males and females have retained in part the usual sharp eyes of their class-for they arc first cousins to tho bees-and they also pos- sess three littlo eyelets or ocelli, which are wanting to the wingless neuters.