USELESS HABITS IN TWO BRITISH NEWTS. 173 



that the animal could always attain its end equally well by 

 going either side of the pillar. 



That the habits of turning had intimately insinuated them- 

 selves into the Newt's nervous system was shown in trials 32, 33, 

 34, and 36, where the Newt turned according to habit, although 

 it had, at the beginning in b, made a wrong turn which, on 

 account of the structure of the labyrinth, was bound to alter 

 the circumstances of the other turns, in this instance leading 

 the Newt up into c on the right side instead of on the left. In 

 32, 33, and 34 also the d turn was correct as well. No habit, 

 however strong, seems to be able to form and permanently with- 

 stand the disintegrative effects of the strong nosing instinct. 

 Similarly with its impulsive side-climbing in the other laby- 

 rinth. 



The times in the table do not signify much, as a Newt 

 would sluggishly traverse the spiral with no mistakes, while an 

 energetic control would invariably get through much quicker, yet 

 it made, of course, every mistake possible. 



IV. 



Other labyrinths were tried, but no Newts learnt them per- 

 manently, on account, as in the others, of the climbing pro- 

 pensities. Several Newts, however, presented interesting aspects 

 in their behaviour, and one, a Palmate, formed a useless habit, 

 lasting over a period of nine trials, of climbing up the side of the 

 corner of a trough, nosing the glass top over the trough (only 

 two inches up in this case), until it overbalanced itself and fell 

 into the exit trough, and so out. All this, and it might have 

 simply turned and got out in half the time ! The same Newt, 

 over the same period of trials in the same labyrinth, formed two 

 other habits. In the first, it would always return to the mouth 

 of the first trough and retire again to the next, eventually 

 entering the first completely down to the entrance barrier, and 

 then going forward to the third trough (omitting the second), 

 out of which it fell, in somewhat the same way as in the last 

 trough already detailed. 



The most remarkable case of the elaboration of useless habits 

 occurred in the labyrinth, Fig. 5, which somewhat resembles the 

 labyrinth used by Dr. Yerkes for testing the learning powers of 



