But what a series of instincts does this series of facts open to us!
The knowledge by the Crab of the qualities of the new shell; the
delay of his own satisfaction till his associate is ready; the power
of communicating the fact to her; the power in her of apprehending
the communication; her immediate obedience to the intimation; her
relinquishment of her wonted hold, which for months at least had never
been interrupted; her simultaneous taking of a new, unwonted hold,
where alone it could have been of any use; the concerted action of
both; the removal; her relinquishment of the transitory adhesion as
soon as its purpose was accomplished; her simultaneous grasp of the new
shell in the proper places; all these are wonderful to contemplate,
wonderful considered singly, far more wonderful in their cumulation. Is
there not here much more than what our modern physiologists are prone
to call automatic movements, the results of reflex sensorial action?
The more I study the lower animals, the more firmly am I persuaded of
the existence in them of psychical faculties, such as consciousness,
intelligence, will, and choice! and _that_, even in those forms in
which as yet no nervous centres have been detected.