NATURE NOTES 
184 
mentioned animals. On the other hand the elephant, notwith- 
standing his comparatively recent domestication, is quite the 
equal of the dog in reasoning power. High, however, as the 
intelligence of these two quadrupeds undoubtedly is, it is much 
below that of many apes and monkeys. Is it not therefore 
probable that, had these latter been associated with man for 
an equal number of generations, they (his nearer allies) would 
have become at least as useful to him as the elephant, horse, 
or dog ? 
As illustrating the mental capacities of the higher apes (apart 
from any special training), the following may be quoted; An 
orang, formerly living in Paris, was in the habit, precisely at 
the dinner-hour, of opening a door of a room in which he took 
his meals in company with several persons. Being worried by 
the excessive punctuality of his charge, the ape’s keeper one 
day shortened the rope by tying three knots in it. .\fter several 
unsuccessful attempts to reach the key, the Orang, recognising 
the nature of the obstacle which stood in his way, climbed 
the rope till he was above the knots, untied all three, and 
triumphantly opened the door. The same animal was able to 
open another door by trying each out of a bunch of fifteen keys 
till he found the right one ; he also used as a lever an iron 
bar which was given to him. 
In the other four classes of the Vertebrata there is no regular 
division of the cerebrum into lobes, moreover the membrane 
with which it is covered — known as the grey matter — gradually 
decreases in thickness, being almost non-existent in the lower 
orders of the fishes. 
The actions of social insects, as bees and wasps, are fre- 
quently cited as a remarkable display of intelligence among the 
lower animals. Wonderful, however, as their operations doubt- 
less are, they are essentially of an instinctive nature, and show 
none of the initiative seen in the actions of most mammals and 
even some birds. F. W. W.^tts. 
SELBORNIANA. 
London Wild Birds. — A curious rural charm — suggestive 
of a London embosomed in trees and musical with thrush and 
linnet, instead of with the hoot of motors — breathes through no 
less prosaic a document than a London County Council “ legal 
notice” published this week. 
It is, briefly, an announcement that from henceforward the 
“close time ” for all wild birds throughout the county of London 
will be extended as from January 31 to September i ; and that 
certain birds, and their eggs, shall be protected all the year, 
with a fine of per l^ird and £i per egg taken or destroyed. 
There follows a list of fifty-four “ smaller fowls,” the very 
