DELAYED REACTION 47 



dence will be presented later when the effect of the size of the 

 release upon the methods of delay is considered. 



One other line of evidence which points to the uniqueness 

 of the raccoon's behavior should be noticed here, viz., the growth 

 of the methods of delay during the course of the experimenta- 

 tion. Did the rats and dogs rely upon orientation from the 

 beginning of the tests? Was the non-orientation cue natural 

 with the raccoons or acquired under the stress of circumstances? 

 An examination of the records reveals the fact that from the 

 beginning of the learning tests the rats and dogs reacted in 

 accordance with orientation. There was no development of a 

 new method as the delays were increased in length. There was 

 simply an improvement in the facility with which the animal 

 maintained its position for a given length of time. When the 

 orientation was lost, it was no easier to react correctly at the 

 last of the experimentation than at its beginning. In the case 

 of the raccoons also there was no initiation of a new mode of 

 response. There were, on the average, as many reactions per 

 day during the learning period that did not follow the orien- 

 tation as there were per day during the delayed reactions. The 

 improvement that took place as the experimentation proceeded 

 was in the accuracy of responses not in accordance with orien- 

 tation, when these responses were made after a long delay. 

 "Non-orientation reactions," therefore, seem to be natural with 

 raccoons and thus seem to differentiate their behavior from that 

 of the rats and dogs. 



(b) Position in the box. — The data considered under the 

 above title are those indicating the eft'ect that the large release 

 box had upon the methods of delay used by the various animals. 

 It will be remembered that the large release gave the animals 

 the freedom of the interior of the box and thus permitted them 

 to take up a certain position in the box as well as to maintain 

 a certain bodily orientation. 



Four rats, both dogs and all of the raccoons save Betty were 

 tested with this large release. Only three animals had their 

 methods of behavior essentially modified : Rats 1 7 and 1 6 and 

 the raccoon Jack. In no case, however, did an animal that 

 had depended upon orientation for its cue begin the use of a 

 non-orientation factor. What the modifications were will come 

 out in the following descriptive summar\^ 



