MY MONKEYS. 525 



cisely as if they were before a looking-glass. The rhesus grinned, 

 then laughed, and at last turned his back to the picture, uttering 

 grunts of satisfaction, as if he expected to be scratched. The Java 

 monkeys stared at the picture ; with the skin of their foreheads drawn 

 back, their lips pushed out and constantly moving, they regarded it 

 from a distance and close up, to find out what it was. The other spe- 

 cies likewise recognized the nature of the pictures, but without exhib- 

 iting as strong excitement as the two species mentioned. The least 

 intelligent of the number was the sajou, which, examining the porti'ait 

 from the head down and moaning, stretched its hand toward it, trying 

 to tear it with his nails. Evidently it did not recognize the portrait 

 either as one of itself or of another monkey, while it took in pictured 

 insects very well, and was frightened at the sight of the painting or 

 drawing of a viper. Notwithstanding these examples, I was cai-eful 

 not to generalize so as to extend to a whole species the faculties of a 

 few individuals belonging to it. Among monkeys, as with man and 

 other animals, there are individuals of extensive and individuals of very 

 limited gifts in the same species. None of the many monkeys could 

 distinguish pictures of landscapes or houses, in respect to which they 

 were precisely like savages. 



Only a few dogs give any signs of intelligence before their image 

 in a glass. Some just distinguish it and remain quite indifferent ; oth- 

 ers growl or bark, but they seldom try to determine whether a second 

 individual really exists. I have remarked the same of cats, and Blan- 

 chard's cat in Paris, that dashed furiously at a looking-glass, is a unique 

 example. 



The rhesus looked into the mirror with a joyous air, stretched out 

 his ears, drew up the skin of his forehead and his eyebrows, puckered 

 his lips, grinned and laughed, and turned his posterior to the glass. 

 This gesture is general among some kinds of monkeys. I had already 

 described it as a peculiarity of a mandrill, when Darwin, having read 

 my article, sent me a letter on the subject, asking me Avhat significance 

 I attached to it. I answered him that, according to my experiments, 

 the gesture was a mark of simian politeness. Once in position, the 

 monkey expects to be scratched, just as when we extend our hand to 

 another person we expect to receive his. Darwin verified my observa- 

 tion, and compared the gesture with certain forms of salutation among 

 savages, such as those by feeling the belly or rubbing noses. My rhe- 

 sus, not succeeding in getting scratched by his image, turned around 

 and passed his hand behind the glass to feel for it. I took the oppor- 

 tunity to pinch him sharply behind the glass, when he became very 

 angry, not at me, but at the image. His face turned red, his ears were 

 extended, and his jaws gaped open repeatedly. The gaping was so 

 irresistible that he could not stop it, not even to chew or swallow. It 

 is a sign of great anger and violent nervous disturbance. It occurs 

 very frequently with the pavions, almost regularly, and the animal is 



