MENTAL LIFE OF MONKEYS AND APES 123 



she was doing, which was rendered difficult by her tendency 

 to turn away from him, in order to shield her injured finger, 

 he rushed over to the wire partition and made strenuous efforts 

 to seize Tiny with his hands and teeth. But although she 

 continued close to the partition and often crowded against it 

 with face and hands flattened on the wires, he was not able to 

 get hold of her, and after a few vain attempts he returned to 

 his mate, and again with evident solicitousness and the most 

 troubled expression, watched her wringing her hands and chew- 

 ing or sucking at her injured finger. Shortly he again returned 

 to the partition and renewed his attempts to seize the young 

 monkey. Thus he went back and forth from one place of in- 

 terest to the other several times, but being unable to achieve 

 anything at either point, he finally gave up and returned to 

 his breakfast on the floor of the cage. 



I report this incident fully because the behavior of Jimmie 

 was in marked contrast with the usual behavior of the mon- 

 keys. Selfishness seemed ever^n^^here dominant, while clear in- 

 dications of sympathetic emotions were rare indeed. The above 

 is undoubtedly the best evidence of anything altruistic that 

 I obtained. 



It is possible that Tiny's action was retaliatory, but although 

 it is practical^ certain that either Gertie or Jimmie inflicted 

 the wound on her finger, I of course cannot be sure that the 

 spirit of revenge stirred her to punish Gertie so severely. Jim- 

 mie's part in the whole affair is, however, perfectly intelligible 

 from our human point of view, and there seems no reason to 

 doubt that he did experience something like a feeling of sym- 

 pathy with his mate, coupled with a feeling of resentment or 

 anger against Tin}^ 



