PREFACE 



In writing a Preface for the Sixty-first Volume of ' The 

 Zoologist ' the question arises as to the work achieved by these 

 long successive yearly publications, and it is probable that it 

 is to the philosophical conclusions of Zoology that the greatest 

 contribution has been made. We are not alluding to any of 

 the directly philosophical papers that have from time to time 

 appeared, but are referring to the bionomical observations with 

 which our contributors have enriched these pages. They 

 directly appertain to the important problem of the status of 

 intelligence possessed by other animals than ourselves, and we 

 think we may challenge the existence of any other commen- 

 surate series of volumes, in any language, and over an equal 

 length of time, that record such a number of facts on this 

 subject. It is more than probable that many writers of these 

 notes have scarcely realized their philosophical importance. 

 Animal psychology is still in its infancy, and, like meteorology, 

 must depend largely for its progress on available observations. 

 Mr. Mallock has recently drawn attention to a contemporary 

 volume, emanating from Stonyhurst, on Psychology, in which 

 the writer, Father Maher, S.J., ^ates : — " Careful reflection 

 must convince us, that no mattewhat pains and industry be 

 devoted to the observation of the animals, our assurance with 

 regard to their subjective states can never be more than a 

 remote conjectural opinion." 



We believe that this statement is largely fallacious, and 

 that the pages of ' The Zoologist' have already demonstrated, 



