42 Chapter II. 



accounts supposed to be the fact, not what took place 

 in reahty. Apes Hving in trees, in wanton playfulness, 

 break off withered branches by jumping on them, by 

 snapping and shaking them ; but they do not throw 

 them at a person who stands below. Neither do they 

 throw fruits or other objects which they hold in their 

 hands ; they rather drop them quite naturally on being 

 frightened or put to flight. Moreover, baboons, among 

 which I was able to observe especially the tschakmas, 

 often watching hundreds of them very carefully, never 

 think of throwing down stones from their rocky eleva- 

 tions at their pursuers. It is true, from the place where 

 they happen to be, stones sometimes roll or fall down,, 

 but merely by chance and also at times, when no enemy 

 is in sight. . . . Together with my wife, who 

 derived great pleasure from watching the behavior of 

 the baboons, — they were often the only living beings, 

 and very noisy at that, in the rocky deserts of South- 

 western Africa, — I have minutely studied their doings 

 precisely on this head to convince myself whether they 

 actually throw. They assuredly do not.'' 



What light is thrown by these critical observations 

 of Pechuel-Loesche on the "individual intelligence'* 

 of apes so highly prized by modern evolution? Light 

 enough, indeed, but extremely compromising for that 

 theory. In spite of their highly developed brain, which 

 in anatomical structure bears the closest resemblance 

 to the human brain, apes are nevertheless unable to 

 draw even the simplest conclusions, which might lead 

 them to the use of branches and stones as weapons. 

 The spider weaving its ingenious web to ensnare its 

 prey, or casting out silky threads to entangle its vie- 



