MENTAL LIFE OF MONKEYS AND APES 107 



no interest in obtaining the food. Later he looked through the 

 box and saw the banana. He then dragged the box about, 

 apparently trying to get it into his cage, but he gave no atten- 

 tion to the poles nor did he make any evident effort to obtain 

 the banana which w^as easily visible in the center of the box. 

 The period of observation was only twelve minutes. 



On August 24 this experiment was repeated with an import- 

 ant modification of the apparatus in that the wooden lid of 

 the long box had been replaced by a wire cover through which 

 the animal could see the bait. Two poles were as formerly 

 on the floor of the cage, not far from the box. Skirrl almost 

 immediately noticed the banana and tried to get it by gnawing 

 at the box. He did not once reach in at the ends of the box, 

 but he did handle the poles, throwing them about and pound- 

 ing with them. There was not the slightest attempt to use 

 them in obtaining the bait. 



This experiment was later repeated three times at intervals 

 of a number of days, but in no case did Skirrl show any ten- 

 dency to use the poles as means of obtaining the food. 



Draw-in Experiment 



This also was arranged in the same manner as for Julius, and 

 on each of five days Skirrl was allowed at least thirty minutes 

 to work for the bait. Either a banana or a carrot was each 

 day placed on the board well beyond his reach, and one or 

 two, usually two, small sticks were put into his cage. Not 

 once during the several periods of observation did Skirrl make 

 any attempt to use a stick or any other object as a means of 

 drawing the food to him. Instead, he reached persistently with 

 his arm, pulled and gnawed at the wires which were in his way, 

 and occasionally picked up and gnawed or pounded with the 

 sticks in the cage. His attention every now and then would 

 come back to the food, but it tended to fluctuate rather rapidly, 

 and in the regular period of observation, thirty minutes, it is 

 unlikely that he attended to the bait itself for as much as five 

 minutes. In this respect as well as many others, Skirrl's be- 

 havior contrasts sharply with that of the orang utan. 



The results of this experiment indicate the lack in the monkey 

 of any tendency or ability, apart from training, to use objects 

 as means of obtaining food. Ways of using objects as tools 



