156 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [9:6— Sept., 1913 



As figure III shows, a pleasing appearance appeals much more 

 strongly to the girls than to the boys and more to the lower than 

 to the higher grades, which agrees with the results of the first set 

 of questions. Usefulness and faithfulness appealed more to the 

 boys and the saving of life to the girls, while the results of these 

 questions agree with those of the first set in showing that sound 

 appeals more to the girls. In comparing grades it was found that 

 in the higher grades less attention was given to the practical 

 consideration. 



Below is the list of animals disliked arranged in order: mice 

 and rats, snakes, cats, dogs, mosquitoes, pigs. One-fifth of the 

 children, 6o per cent of them boys, wrote that there was no animal 

 they disliked. The reasons for these dislikes in the order given 

 were: they injure people, cause annoyance, have anunpleasing 

 appearance, eat things, chiefly food, and are unclean. The great 

 reason assigned was that the animals do some personal harm in all 

 gradations from the scratch of the cat up to the supposedly deadly 

 sting of the snakes, but this fear was less prominent in the upper 

 grades. 



But the most noticeable thing in this set of answers was the 

 fact that the reason given for disliking the wild animals, chiefly 

 snakes, is entirely unfounded, that is, that they are poisonous. 

 As a matter of fact there are only two or three snakes found in 

 this latitude whose bite is poisonous and these are so rare that it is 

 exceptional to find anybody who has seen them wild in nature. 

 It certainly seems as if the feeling of the htmian race toward the 

 snake as depicted in the myth of the Garden of Eden has been well 

 maintained, but even if the repugnance felt toward these animals 

 is not overcome, the children should at least be taught the truth 

 regarding the hvmian relations of these ill-treated animals, many 

 of which are of economic value in destroying insects. 



In answering the third question nearly the same animals were 

 mentioned as in the previous questions: the dog, the horse, the 

 squirrel, the monkey, the cat and wild birds. The interesting 

 characteristics given may be classed under the following heads 

 in the order given: intelligence, usefulness, appearance, saving 

 life, and song. The answers show restdts similar to those of the 

 previous answers in that the practical value appeals more to the 

 boys and the song more to the girls. 



