VOL. XIV. (2) INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS 119 
SOME INSTANCES 
; OF 
INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS, 
BY 
CHARLES A. WITCHELL 
(Read December 17th, 1901) 
The local distribution of many kinds of animals suggests 
that they exercise discretion in selecting habitats and 
places of repose. The distribution of food is not neces- 
sarily a predominating factor in this matter. The 
common snake, for instance, is often found on dry banks, 
where its chief prey, the frog, does not abound. The 
lizard, again, often basks on the stones of a dry wall, 
where it could find very little food. In these two in- 
stances, as in many others which might be mentioned, it 
is found that the creatures concerned nearly always occur 
in places particularly suited to their immediate needs, and, 
further, in spots where they are inconspicuous. 
The selection of a resting place on which they are 
unnoticeable commonly occurs in Lepidoptera. In 1886 
or 1887, when visiting Nibley Knoll with the Club, I saw 
33 butterflies of the species Cynthia cardui (Painted Lady) 
disturbed from the Monument on which they were 
practically invisible when their wings were closed. There 
were no others of the species to be found. Another 
butterfly (Vanessa Atalanta ), at Stroud, sought shelter at 
evening in a dark cypress tree at some little distance from 
the flowerbeds where the insect fed. A small Tortoise 
shell (V. urtice) 1 saw flying across and across an office 
window inatown. It entered half-way ; retired ; re-entered ; 
and finally entered a niche above books in a book-case. 
