J.\M-.\RY 1, 1894.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



15 



louder and louder, until it ianally culminated in a series of 

 yells and screams, not unfrequently accompanied with a 

 stamping of the feet and a violent shaking of the netting 

 of her cage. After this climax the utterance of a few 

 grunts terminated the performance. 



It occurred to Dr. Romanes (from whose account Mr. 

 Lydekker quotes) that " Sally " would be a good subject 

 on which to test the powers of an ape's intelligence. He 

 foimd, however, that his experiments were seriously 

 hampered by the effects on the creature of the visits 

 of the numbers of people who were constantly passing 

 in and out of the room in which she was kept, and 

 there is consequently little doubt that under more 

 favourable circumstances the results obtained would 

 have been more remarkable than they are. Having 

 secured the assistance of the keepers, Dr. Eomanes 

 requested them to ask " Sally" repeatedly for one, two, or 

 three straws, which she was to pick up and hold out from 

 among the litter strewing her cage. The number of straws 

 asked for was constantly varied and never followed any 

 regular order, and when the correct number was presented 

 the animal was rewarded by a piece of fruit, while if the 

 number was incorrect her offer was refused. In this way 

 the ape was easily taught to associate these three numbers 

 with their names. Lastly, if two or three straws were 

 demanded she was taught to hold one or two in her mouth 

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

 hand the two or three straws together, This prevented 

 any error arising from her interpretation of vocal tones. 

 As soon as she 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 fi'om four to five straws. Here 

 Dr. Romanes allowed her education to terminate. But one 

 of her keepers endeavoured to advance her instruction as 

 far as ten. Although she very rarely made a mistake in 

 handing out one, two, three," four or five straws, and was 

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

 when the numbers eight, nine or ten were named the 

 result became more and more uncertain, so as to be 

 suggestive of guess-work. 



It was evident, however, that she understood the words 

 seven, eight, nine and ten to betoken numbers higher than 

 those below them ; and if she was asked for any of these 

 numbers, she gave some number that was above six and 

 not more than ten. On the whole, therefore, while there 

 was no doubt that " Sally" could accurately count up to 

 five, beyond live her accuracy of computation became pro- 

 gressively diminished. Owing to the method of picking 

 out the straws above described, the operation was a slow 

 one, and imposed a considerable tax upon her patience ; 

 and as her movements were deliberate and her store of 

 patience small. Dr. Romanes thought that the uncertainty 

 which attended her dealing with the numbers six and 

 seven was more frequently due to her losing patience than 

 to her losing count, although after seven he believed that 

 her computation of the numbers became vague. 



We heartily concur with the popular Secretary of the 

 Zoological Society in commending " The Royal Natural 

 History," not only to every naturalist, but to every lover 

 of nature. 



Our Household Insects ; an account of the Insect Pests 

 fouiul in Dwell in;/- Houses. By Edward A. Butler, B.A., 

 B.Sc. (Lond.), Author of "Pond Life," "Silkworms," 

 &c. (London : Longmans, Green & Co.) — Mr. Butler is 

 already well-known to the readers of Knowledge, and 

 they will welcome this collection of his papers, issued in 

 book form, and provided with an index. We usually 



associate the pursuit of entomology with summer weather 

 and the open air ; but Mr. Butler's book will afford occupa- 

 tion for winter evenings, without imposing on readers the 

 necessity of going very far from their own firesides ; though it 

 is to be hoped that they will not meet in their homes with 

 specimens of every insect described by him. Thanks 

 to the spread of education, and to the improved observance 

 of the precept that " cleanliness is next to godliness," 

 fleas, bugs and lice are now practically banished from most 

 middle-class dwellings. On the other hand, there are no 

 houses in which representatives of some of the insects 

 whose history is related in this book cannot be found. 

 The common cockroach (otherwise known as the black 

 beetle) is, perhaps, the largest and best known of all house- 

 hold insects ; and Mr. Butler wisely devotes some thirty 

 pages to a sketch of its life-history and anatomy. As it is 

 the largest of household insects, it is the best of them for 

 dissecting purposes, and its internal organs can be studied 

 without the use of a high power microscope ; and with the 

 advantages of Mr. Butler's guidance, any ordinary observer 

 who has not first-class appliances can obtain some practical 

 knowledge of the digestive, circulatory and nervous systems 

 of the insect world. As Mr. Froude has attempted to white- 

 wash Henry YIIL, so does our author attempt to whitewash 

 the wasp ; but we fear that suspicion of wasps is so deeply 

 rooted in the human breast that it will be long before men, 

 and especially women, will learn to regard a wasp with 

 equanimity, and to look upon him as a benefactor to 

 mankind. Why do we always speak of the wasp as "he '" '? 

 As a matter of fact, the male wasp is without a sting, and 

 can be easily distinguished from the female and from 

 workers by his antenniP, which are longer than theirs ; 

 but when a wasp is buzzing, who stops to consider the 

 length of his antenniB ? The ladies of the household 

 will be interested in studying the various clothes moths, of 

 which at least four species are known, though probably 

 more species suffer from the mistaken zeal of the house- 

 wife when she is defending her beloved stores of linen and 

 furs ; and it should be remembered that when she dis- 

 covers the moth issuing from the cupboards the mischief 

 is already done, for the winged nioth does not damage 

 clothes, it merely lays the eggs from which come the 

 caterpillars, who are the destructive agents. It is pleasant 

 to find that some of the best known and most noxious house- 

 hold pests are importations to this country, and are not 

 aborigines. The cockroach and the bed bug were unknown 

 in England till the sixteenth century. By the way, these 

 two insects are deadly enemies, and in the London slums 

 the cockroach proves himself a friend of man by devouring 

 numbers of bugs. Mr. Butler tells us of other insects 

 that have not been acclimatized, but have been brought 

 to this country in packages of foreign goods. He has 

 discovered a fine large South American weevil in a 

 gooseberry tart ; and I remember sitting beside a friend 

 when he found a Russian beetle in a cranberry pie. In 

 England we think with disgust of savages who are in the 

 habit of eating insects ; but beetles and meal-worms are 

 fi-equently ground up with corn into flour, and are not 

 detected in bread and pastry, and it is not only corn which 

 is liable to be thus adulterated. A recent writer says, " I 

 have known bushels of cocoa nuts, which were every one 

 worm-eaten and fuU of maggots, with their webs, cast-ofi' 

 skins, pupje, and cocoons, all groimd down to make 

 chocolate — flavoured, I suppose, with vanilla." 



Mr. Butler's method of writing will stimulate many to 

 observe for themselves. We trust that he will not let the 

 pen drop from his fingers, but will continue to instruct us 

 in the habits of insects with the same charm of style 

 and accuracy of observation which this book displays. 



Oxford. A. Ballaku. 



