i6o 



NA TURK 



yjune 13, 1889 



during growth show such changes very prominently. The 

 young round fishes by and by roam about the sea in 

 shoals, led hither and thither mainly by the presence of 

 food ; though in the case of the larger and adult forms, 

 safety or freedom from molestation may have some 

 influence. Though so minute on escaping from the ^gg, 

 their growth is, by and by, rapid, and the duration of life 

 in such as the cod is considerable. Abundance of food, 

 more than any special instinct, would appear to be the 

 main cause of their migrations in the adult or semi-adult 

 state, and that food is as varied as their haunts ; in short, 

 it embraces every sub-kingdom up to their own, for fishes 

 and their eggs form a large share of their diet. 



There would be little difficulty in adding to the sea great 

 numbers of larval forms of any species of which eggs 

 can be procured : yet if a few adults can be obtained in 

 such waters at the proper season it is still an open question 

 whether the natural process with its surroundings would 

 not be more successful. 



In the foregoing remarks I have but touched on a few 

 of the leading features of the life-history of a food-fish ; for 

 the subject is one of vast extent, and some of the points 

 em.braced in it are by no means easily solved. We have 

 only earnestly entered on the study of the subject in this 

 country within the last few years, and much yet remains 

 to be done, even in some of the most common marine 

 fishes. However, the zoological investigator is here 

 stimulated by the fact that all his labours directly bear on 

 the pubjic welfare, for it need hardly be pointed out that 

 a thorough knowledge of the development and life-histories 

 of our food-fishes is the first step to sound legislation and 

 effective administration. The State has in past years 

 spent princely sums on more or less pure science, as in the 

 memorable voyage of the Challenger. There can be no 

 doubt that at the present moment the public interests 

 demand a searching and long-continued inquiry nearer 

 home, viz. the exhaustive investigation of all that pertains 

 to the food- fishes of our shores, since the problems 

 connected therewith affect the prosperity of so large a 

 portion of the population. 



ON THE MENTAL FACULTIES 6'/^ANTHR0P0- 

 PITHECUS CALVUS.i 



'X'HE female Chimpanzee which has now been in the 

 -*• Society's Menagerie for nearly six years has attracted 

 general notice,not only on account of her peculiarzoological 

 characters, but perhaps still more on account of her high 

 intelligence. This is conspicuously displayed by the re- 

 markable degree in which she is able to understand the 

 meaning of spoken language — a degree which is fully 

 equal to that presented by an infant a few months before 

 emerging from infancy, and therefore higher than that 

 which is presented by any other brute, so far, at least, as I 

 have met with any evidence to show. Nevertheless, the 

 only attempts that she makes by way of vocal response 

 are three peculiar grunting noises — one indicative of 

 assent or affirmation, another (very closely resembling the 

 first) of dissent or negation, and the third (quite different 

 from the other two) of thanks or recognition of favours. In 

 disposition she is somewhat capricious, though on the 

 whole good-humoured, fond of her keepers, and apparently 

 never tired of a kind of bantering play which off and on 

 they keep up with her continually. IBy vocalizing in a 

 peculiar monotone (imitative of the beginning of her own 

 " song " ), they are usually able to excite her into the per- 

 formance of a remarkable series of actions. First, she 

 shoots out her lips into the well-known tubular form 

 (depicted in Darwin's " Expression of the Emotions," p. 

 141), while at the same time she sings a strange howling 



^ Paper read before the ZDological Society on June 4, 1889, by Prof. George 

 J. Romanes, F.R.S. 



note interrupted at regular intervals ; these, however, 

 rapidly become shorter and shorter, while the vocaliza- 

 tion becomes louder and louder, winding up to a climax of 

 shrieks and yells, often accompanied with a drumming 

 of the hind feet and a vigorous shaking of the network 

 which constitutes her cage. The whole performance ends 

 with a few grunts. 



A year or two ago it occurred to me that I might try 

 some psychological experiments on the intelligence of 

 this animal. The circumstances in which she is placed, 

 however, did not prove favourable for anything like 

 systematic instruction. Being constantly exposed to the 

 gaze of a number of people coming and going, and having 

 her attention easily distracted by them, the ape was 

 practically available for purposes of tuition only during 

 the early hours of the morning, before the Menagerie is 

 open to the public ; and, as a rule, I did not find it con- 

 venient to attend at that time. Therefore, the results 

 which I am about to describe do not in my opinion re- 

 present what might fairly have been expected under more 

 favourable conditions : if the Chimpanzee could have been 

 kept as a domestic pet for a few months (as I kept the 

 Cebus kindly lent me for the purposes of psychological 

 observation by this Society), there can be no doubt that 

 many much more interesting results might have been 

 obtained. Nevertheless, it appears to me that even those 

 which thus far have been obtained are worthy of being 

 placed on record ; and although some of them have 

 already been published a few months ago in my work on 

 " Mental Evolution in Man," since that time some further 

 progress has been made ; and therefore in the present 

 paper I will state together all the facts which have been 

 hitherto observed. 



Having enlisted the intelligent co-operation of the 

 keepers, I requested them to ask the ape repeatedly for 

 one straw, two straws, or three straws. These she was to 

 pick up and hand out from among the litter in her cage. 

 No constant order was to be observed in makicig these 

 requests, but, whenever she handed a number not asked 

 for, her offer was refused, while, if she gave the proper 

 number, her offer was accepted, and she received a piece 

 of fruit as payment. In this way the ape was eventually 

 taught to associate these three numbers with their names. 

 Lastly, if two straws or three straws were demanded, she 

 was taught to hold one straw or two straws in her mouth 

 until she had picked up the remaining straw, and then to 

 hand the two straws or the three straws together. This 

 prevented any possible error arising from her interpreta- 

 tion of vocal tones— an ^ror which might well have 

 arisen if each straw had been asked for separately. 



As soon as the animal understood what was required, 

 and had learnt to associate these three numbers with 

 their names, she never failed to give the number of straws 

 asked for. Her education was then extended in a 

 similar manner from three to four, and from four to five. 

 Here, for reasons to be presently stated, I allowed her 

 education to terminate. But more recently one of the 

 keepers has endeavoured to advance her instruction as far 

 as ten. The result, however, is what might have been 

 anticipated. Although she very rarely makes any mis- 

 take in handing out one, two, three, four, or five straws, 

 according to the number asked for ; and although she is 

 usually accurate in handing out as many as six or seven ; 

 when the numbers eight, nine, or ten are named, the result 

 becomes more and more uncerta'n, so as to be suggestive of 

 guess-work. It is evident, however, that she understands 

 the words seven, eight, nine, and ten to betoken numbers 

 higher than those below them ; for if she is asked for any 

 of these numbers [i.e. above six), she always gives some 

 number that is above six and not more than ten ; but 

 there is no such constant accuracy displayed in handing 

 out the exact number named as is the case below six. 

 On the whole, then, while there is no doubt that this 

 animal can accurately compute any number of straws up 



