MENTAL LIFE OF MONKEYS AND APES 105 



bait, and in any event, it would have been impossible for him 

 to reach it. He next went to the largest box, gnawed it vigor- 

 ously, turned it over several times, and then abandoned it for 

 the middle sized box, from which by skillful use of his teeth 

 and hands, he quickly tore off one side. 



By this time, apparently without ver^' definitely directed 

 effort on the part of the monkey, all three of the boxes were 

 in the center of the cage and almost directly beneath the banana. 

 Skirrl climbed up on the largest box and made efforts to pull 

 the middle sized one up on to it, the while looking at the 

 banana every few seconds. He did not succeed in getting the 

 boxes properly placed, and after a time began moving them 

 about restlessly. 



His behavior plainly indicated that hunger was not his chief 

 motive. He was more interested in playing with things or in 

 working with them than in eating, and the satisfaction of tear- 

 ing a box to pieces seemed even greater than that of food. It 

 is especially noteworthy that when Skirrl attempts to dismember 

 a box, instead of starting at random, he searches carefully for 

 a favorable starting point, a place where a board is slightly 

 loosened or where a slight crack or hole enables him to insert 

 his hand or use his teeth effectively. Many times during this 

 experiment he was observed to examine the boxes on all sides 

 in search of some weak point. If no such weak point were 

 found, he shortly left the box; but if he did find a favorable 

 spot, he usually succeeded, before he gave up the attempt, in 

 doing considerable damage to the box. 



Following the behavior described above, Skirrl returned to 

 the middle sized box, placed it on end under the banana, mounted, 

 and looked upward at the bait, but as it was a few inches beyond 

 his reach, he made no attempt to get it, but instead, after a 

 few seconds, went to the smallest box, and finding a weak point, 

 began to tear it to pieces. 



Later he rolled what was left of the smallest box close to 

 the other two boxes, nearly under the banana, and the remainder 

 of his time was spent gnawing at the boxes and playing with 

 pieces which he had succeeded in tearing from them. During 

 the remainder of the thirty minute interval of observation, no 

 further attention was given the bait. 



Again, on August 25, the test was tried, but this time with 



