MENTAL FACULTIES 



ments to a definite restricted area, and that it has the most 

 exact knowledge of its retreats within that area, and under- 

 stands how to reach them quickly and hide in them when it 

 is pursued. But if it is driven from its home it runs about 

 helplessly and aimlessly, and can be captured with ease. 

 This fact led me in that paper to describe an observation 

 on a similar certainty, acquired during life, in the knowledge 

 of its surroundings, even in a shore - crab : "Animals also 

 which are credited with mental powers still more feeble than 

 those of the lizard seem to have a similar knowledge of 

 locality, and to find their way to their accustomed retreats 

 with as much certainty. I witnessed years ago in Capri a 

 comical proof of this in a shore-crab (Carcinus msenas). In 

 a large pool hollowed out in the rocks, shut off all round 

 from the sea, and only reached by the waves in rough weather, 

 stood a fisherman trying to catch a crab of that kind ; he pur- 

 sued it with his two hands joined together so as to form a 

 scoop in which to lift it out. The crab swam in a straight 

 line towards the opposite side of the pool, which was some 

 metres away. Softly and cautiously the fisherman followed 

 it, evidently pleased to see the crab going towards the rock, 

 between which and his hands he expected to catch it. But 

 just as his hands were about to seize the creature, it slipped 

 beneath them into a hole in the rock, and the discomfiture of 

 the fisherman was received with laughter by the numerous 

 bystanders who had watched his attempts with keen interest. 

 It must be inferred that the crab had swam across the whole 

 pool in certain knowledge of the position of its hole ; and the 

 jeers bestowed on the fisherman showed that the spectators 

 attributed this conscious intention to the animal beforehand, 

 and regarded the fisherman as the victim." 



I know well enough that many of the examples I give 

 here of actions in animals only to be explained by direct 



