THE ACQUISITION OF SKILL IN ARCHERY. 115 



resent about the limit that a beginner can shoot without rest during the first 

 few days of practice, and it seemed that if fatigue had played an important 

 part in determining the different rates of learning of the other groups, its 

 effects should be much more marked in the records of the 60-shot group. 



The averages of the Tortugas group, shooting 12 shots per day, have been 

 included in the tables for comparison with the later groups, although these 

 averages, like those of the 60-shot group, are not strictly comparable with the 

 others. The average age of the group is considerably higher than that of the 

 remainder, and the range, from 22 to 46, is likewise greater. The practice 

 of the group was carried out under what seemed to be much more unfavorable 

 conditions (at a temperature ranging as high as 110 F. and at times in a 

 blinding glare of light, at others in a very strong wind which carried the 

 arrows several feet from their direct course) . 



In all of the experiments enough arrows were provided to allow each subject 

 to shoot his full daily number without pause. The arrows were marked 

 individually and arranged in groups of 5, and the results of the shots were 



25 



20 



15 



10 



100 200 00 400 500 600 700 800 



Fm. 16. Learning with the rifle; all subjects shooting 20 shots daily. 5 shot 



group; 20 shot group; 40 shot group. Ordinates are distance from 



the bulls-eye in centimeters; abscissae, successive shots averaged by twenties. 



recorded by successive fives, as it was found to require too much time to keep 

 all of the records in regular order. In the case of the 5-shot group the arrows 

 were recorded in the order in which they were loosed. 



Finally, as a control upon the respective abilities of the groups to form 

 habits of manipulation under like conditions of practice, each subject was 

 required to shoot 20 shots daily with the rifle. The daily averages were com- 

 puted and from these the average improvement of each group was obtained. 

 Owing to the difficulty in securing subjects for the experiment, three individuals 

 who had had some rifle practice were included. One of these was assigned to 

 each group. Their records for rifle practice were not included in the group 

 averages. 



The daily rifle scores of the three groups are shown in figure 16. As in the 

 case of practice in archery, it has seemed best to use the averages of the first 



