1090 REPORT—1885. 
I then prepared six cards about ten inches by three, and coloured in pairs, 
two yellow, two blue, and two orange. I put three of them on the floor, and 
holding up one of the others, endeavoured to teach Van to bring me the duplicate: 
that is to say, if the blue was held up, he should fetch the corresponding colour 
from the floor, if yellow he should fetch the yellow, and so on. When he brought 
the wrong card he was made to return for another till he brought the right one, 
when ke was rewarded. The lessons generally lasted half an hour, during which 
he brought the right card on an average about twenty-five times. I certainly 
thought that he would soon have grasped what was expected of him, but although 
we continued the lessons for about ten weeks, at the end of the time I cannot say 
that Van appeared to have the least idea what was expected of him. It seemed a 
matter of pure accident which card he brought. 
As it was just possible that Van might be colour-blind, we then repeated the 
experiment, substituting for the coloured cards others marked respectively I., IL., 
and III. This we continued for another ten weeks, but entirely without success. 
I was rather disappointed at this; as, if it had succeeded, the plan would have 
opened out many interesting lines of inquiry. Still, in such a case one ought not 
to wish for one result more than another, as of course the object of all such experi- 
ments is merely to elicit the truth; and our result in the present case, though 
negative, is interesting. I do not, however, regard it as by any means conclusive, 
and should be glad to see it repeated. If the result proved to be the same, it 
would certainly imply very little power of combining even extremely simple ideas. 
I then endeavoured to get some insight into the arithmetical condition of the 
dog’s mind. On this subject I have been able to find but little in any of the 
standard works on the intelligence of animals. Considering, however, the very 
limited powers of savage men in this respect ; no Australian lancuage for instance, 
containing numerals even up to four; and no Australian being able to count his 
own fingers even on one hand—we cannot be surprised if other animals have made 
but little progress. 
Leroy, who, though he expresses the opinion that ‘the nature of the soul of 
animals is unimportant,’ was an excellent observer, mentions a case in which @ 
man was anxious to shoot a crow. ‘To deceive this suspicious bird the plan was 
hit upon of sending two men to the watch-house, one of whom passed on while 
the other remained; but the crow counted, and kept her distance. The next day 
three went, and again she perceived that only two retired. In fine, it was found 
necessary to send five men to the watch-house to put her out in her calcula 
tion. The crow, thinking that this number of men had passed by, lost no time in 
returning.’ From this Leroy inferred that crows could count up to four. Upon 
this point Mr. Howard Saunders has furnished me with the following note:—‘ A 
short-toed eagle ( Circaétus Gallicus), was hovering suspiciously and out of gun-shot. 
above her nest in a large cork-tree under which I and two of my Spanish cazadores 
were standing, partially, but not carefully, concealed. One was sent away, when 
the eagle, after accompanying him fora short distance, returned to her post of 
observation. After an interval I left also, when the manceuvre was repeated, but. 
no sooner had the bird watched me well off the ground than she unhesitatingly 
pitched on her nest, affording an easy shot to the third man.’ 
An interesting consideration rises with reference to the number of the victims 
allotted to each cell by the Solitary Wasps. -Ammophila considers one large cater- 
pillar of Noctua segetum enough; one species of Ewmenes supplies its young with 
five victims, another ten, fifteen, and even up to twenty-four. The number appears 
to be constant in each species. How does the insect know when her task is 
fulfilled P_ Not by the cell being filled, for if some be removed, she does not replace 
them. When she has brought her complement, she considers her task accom- 
plished, whether the victims are still there or not. How then does she know when 
she has made up the number twenty-four ? Perhaps it will be said that each species 
feels some mysterious and innate tendency to provide a certain number of victims, 
This would under no cireumstances be any explanation, but it is not in accordance 
with the facts. 
In the genus Ewmenes the males are much smaller than the females. Now in the 
