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bottom of the calyx. But experience having taught them this know 
ledge they afterwards constantly proceeded at once to the most direct 
mode of obtaining the honey ; so that he could always distinguish 
bees that had been old visitors of the flowers from new ones, the 
last being invariably at first long at a loss, while the former flew at 
once to their object.”—(Kirby and Spence. Entomology, p. j6j.) 
What is done habitually soon comes to be done with 
out special attention ; the mechanism set going works of 
itself—automatically, as it is called. 
“ Mr. Herbert Spencer tells of an old soldier who was one day 
carefully carrying a choice pie home to his dinner. Some cruelly- 
disposed individual came behind him, and suddenly cried in a 
commanding voice, ‘Attention !’ Immediately the old soldier stood 
bolt upright, with his hands to his sides, while the pie came to grief 
upon the pavement. This response to the word ‘Attention!’ had 
become to him instinctive.”—(Romanes. Scie?ice Lectures, p. i6j.) 
The intelligent action which becomes a habit so perfect 
that it works automatically is inherited by the offspring. 
“Among the descendants of the dogs originally introduced into 
South America by the Spaniards, there are breeds which have 
learned by their own experience, without any human training, the 
best modes of attacking the wild animals they pursue ; and since 
young dogs have been observed to practise these methods the very 
first time they engage in the chase, with as much address as old 
dogs, it can scarcely be questioned that the tendency to the per 
formance of them has been embodied in the organisation of the 
race, and is thus transmitted hereditarily.”—(Carpenter. Mental 
Physiology, p. 104.) 
Such is Mr. Lewes’ explanation of the origin of instinct, 
which certainly does not require the interposition of 
Natural Selection for its complete realisation. Mr. Romanes 
supposes that the process is carried two steps further. 
He conceives that in certain cases where modification 
becomes necessary, intelligence interposes to adapt the 
instinct to new conditions ; and that the action so modi 
fied becomes a habit, is often automatically performed,