The Psychic Life of Insects

Abstract

THIS is, we think, the most reasonable book that has been written on insect behaviour as a whole. It is scholarly and critical; it avoids extremes; and it leaves open questions open. There is', as every one recognises, an inclined plane of insect behaviour. On the lowest level there are tropistic activities (the translator's term “tropic” will not do), when the insect makes towards or away from the light, against the Stream or the wind, towards or away from an odour, and so on. In everyday life these tropisms fount for much. They are obligatory constitutional automatisms; they are induced.by asymmetry Of stimulus which provokes asymmetry of muscular activity; and this automatically restores physiological equilibrium. Interesting situations arise when one teopism (e.g. in relation to light) influences or counteracts another (e.g. in relation to gravity); and it is ajs& noteworthy that a tropism may change its character, with the age o^ physiologieal state of the organism.

The Psychic Life of Insects.

By Prof. E. L. Bouvier. Translated by Dr. L. O. Howard. Pp. xvii + 377. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd., 1922.) 8s. 6d. net.