tion in the case of ants or termites, or are
massacred by the workers in the case of bees.

The fecundated females, on their part, become breeding machines whose
activity is incessant. Among the ants, however, the females are at
first capable of nourishing a few larvae by the aid of a portion of
their eggs and their secretions, till the workers are hatched, who
henceforth undertake all the work including the maternal care of the
brood.

Whoever has observed the fidelity of a pair of swallows and the way in
which the male and female nourish and rear their young, must be struck
by the analogy to the conjugal and family love of the faithful type of
human beings. This is especially remarkable when the same couple
return every year to the old nest. This family life of the swallows
does not prevent a certain social life, which manifests itself in
organized attacks on birds of prey, and in combined emigration in the
autumn and spring.

On the other hand, we are instinctively indignant at the want of
fidelity in other animals, between conjoints, parents and offspring
(dogs and rabbits, for instance), because we involuntarily expect to
find in them our own moral sense, which is not at all just.

From the phylogenetic point of view we can only compare ourselves to
the higher apes, by their analogies with primitive man. (Vide Chapter
VI.) The question which concerns us here is as follows: If we consider
the peculiarities of our sexual customs with those of our direct
ancestors, what are those which are derived from ancient and profound
phylogenetic instincts, those which are derived from less profound
ancestral energies (_i.e._, relatively more recent) and lastly those
which depend simply on old customs fixed by tradition, prejudice and
habit? If we are careful we shall immediately recognize that it is not
only the sexual appetite itself, but also a large part of its
correlatives and irradiations, in which the phylogenetic roots are
deep. Jealousy, coquetry, instinctive maternal love, fidelity and
conjugal love, which are more or less developed in primitive man, are
also present in monkeys and birds. We have even seen that the conjugal
fidelity of these often exceeds our own. It is, therefore, not true
that our animal ancestors are only allied to us by sexual appetite; on
the contrary, we must admit that they have much more noble sentiments
and instincts, derived it is true from this appetite, but belonging to
the domain of a