34 APES AND MONKEYS 



the lost marbles. He put his hand into the box, evidently 

 in the hope of finding them. He would not continue to 

 play with the one. I restored one of the marbles, and 

 when he discovered that I could find the lost marble, he 

 appealed to me in each instance to assist him. Then with 

 his little, dirty, black fingers he insisted upon opening my 

 lips to see if it was concealed in my mouth — the place 

 where monkeys usually conceal stolen goods. I repeated 

 this experiment many times, until quite convinced of his 

 ability to count three. Another marble was then added to 

 the number and he was allowed to play with the four until 

 he became familiar with that number. But when one 

 was taken from the four he did not appear to be greatly 

 impressed with the loss. At times he seemed to be in 

 doubt, but he did not worry much about it, though 

 seeming to realize that something was wrong. 



It is not to be supposed that monkeys have names for 

 numerals, but they surely have a more or less distinct con- 

 ception of plurality. The same fact is true of birds. It 

 is said that all birds are able to count the eggs in their 

 nests. This is certainly true of those that lay only three 

 or four eggs. 



During the time that these experiments were being made 

 with monkeys in this country, the late Professor Romanes 

 was making certain experiments with a chimpanzee in Lon- 

 don. He succeeded in teaching her to count seven, so that 

 she would count and deliver to him on demand an}- number 

 from one up to seven. This she did without prompting, 

 and usually without mistake. 



Among different specimens of monkeys there seems to 



