148 CALVIN P. STONE 



erature on delayed responses. The act is a compound of both 

 native and modified native or acquired responses. The latter 

 have been exercised in connection with other units of response 

 and habitual performances from the time of their initial appear- 

 ance to the time of their incorporation in the copulatory pattern. 

 It is important to note, however that these elementary acts 

 exercised in prepuberal life were not substitutes for or abbre- 

 viated and playful types of the copulatory act. The evidence 

 does not show that their early exercise was, in some mysterious 

 manner, pointed toward acts of greater precision in the repro- 

 ductive function. Such activities as pursuit of other rats, 

 playful clasping, wrestling, vaginal smelling, and nibbling have 

 no demonstrable connection with the copulatory act prior to 

 their incorporation in this act at or near the age of physiological 

 sexual maturity. The function of penis licking is still a matter 

 of conjecture. Though it may sometimes be shown to be a form 

 of masturbation or in other respects connected with the process 

 of tumescence or detumescence, there is no evidence at the pres- 

 ent time which links it with the activation of the copulatory act. 

 Palpation of the female's sides, piston movements of the pelvis, 

 and the backward lunge characteristic of the copulatory act are 

 activities which have never been observed prior to the first real 

 copulatory attempts. 



The evidence from this study harmonises, on the whole, with 

 the view that the elements of the copulatory act are integrated 

 into a functional unit of response at a rather definite period of 

 the rat's life. Prior to this integration they do not function in 

 isolation or in smaller units of action which are the anlage of the 

 copulatory act. This point is of special interest because of its 

 bearing on the sexual theories of infancy promulgated chiefly 

 by the Freudian School. Because of the relation such facts have 

 to this interesting subject, it is desirable to extend the present 

 osbservations to other animals and to the human infant as well 

 to determine to what degree these findings are common. In this 

 way data will be made accessable to test the correctness and 

 appraise the value of these theories. 



