INSECT INTELLIGENCE

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 25, 29 July 1922, Page 9

INSECT INTELLIGENCE

At the Wellington Technical College last evening, Mr. T. A. Glendinning, M.Sc., F.1.U., delivered to an enthusiastic audience a splendid lecture, entitled "Insect Intelligence." At the outset Mr. Criendinning referred to the use of the terms "instinct" and "intelligence1,1 as applied to insects, and of the 'difficulty of comparing intelligence which differ greatly both in degree,and in the directions in whioh v they are manifested, and stated that there are great entomologists of ito-day who maintain that among insects there is, no siich thing as instinct; what is niistaken for /instinct is intelligence. ■',',- ; By specially selected slides, Mr. .Glendinrticg first illustrated this intelligence in the life history of the ant,'showing not only ' every phase .of its life. from larva to warrior, but also the community ]ife and the peculiarities of species. The lecturer, in carefully describing the metamorphoses of the moth, from egg to larva, from larva to pupa, and from pupa to the insect, spoke of modern experiments made to discover if possible the means by which the female moth made her presence known to the male at considerable distance. '. The remarkable "instincts" shown by the blowfly1 jn selecting suitable media on, which to deposit her eggs, the marching :of ant\armies, the care bestowed upon "ants1 cows," and many / other interesting features, were instanced and illustrated, proving the wonderful intelligence by' which insects maintain the survival of species'. '.