e facts just as they occurred.--W.

My meals are always served at regular appointed hours, which never vary
throughout the year; and, since my cook "prides herself" on her
punctuality, they are always served on the stroke of the clock. The
moment the bell rings, my cat, a large and very intelligent male, takes
up a position at the door, and is generally the first to enter the
dining room. A few moments before meal-time, Melchizedek (for he is of
royal blood and bears a royal name) becomes uneasy, jumping from chair
to floor or from floor to chair, and sometimes mewing gently. The moment
the bell rings, he is all animation, and shows by his actions that he
fully understands its meaning. He never mistakes the sound of the
dressing-bell for that of the tea-bell, though the same bell is used.
This cat may not be able to count, but that he notes the passage of time
I do not for an instant doubt.

Some monkeys give unmistakable evidences of the possession by them of
the computing faculty. In 1889 I made the acquaintance of a very
intelligent chimpanzee which could count as high as three. That this was
not a trick suggested by sensual impulses I had ample opportunity of
satisfying myself. The owner of the animal would leave the room, no one
being present but myself, and when I would call for two marbles, or one
marble, or three marbles, as the case might be, the monkey would gravely
hand over the required number. Romanes mentions an ape that could count
three, the material used in his experiment being straws from the
animal's cage.

The fact that monkeys can count does not appear so remarkable when it is
agreed by the best authorities that they are capable of understanding
human speech.[89]

[89] Romanes, _Mental Evolution in Man_, p. 369; Darwin, _Descent of
Man_, p. 87; Whitney, _Enc. Brit._, "Philology," Vol. XVIII. p. 769,
quoted by Romanes, _super_.

Returning for a moment to insects, we find that bees and ants give many
evidences of intelligent correlative ideation and action for definite
purposes not instinctive. In regard to bees, Huber's experiment with the
glass slip proves conclusively, in my opinion, that these creatures
_reason_. This experiment is so interesting that it will bear recital.

Huber placed a slip of glass in front of a comb that was under
construction. The bees, as if perfectly aware of the fact that it would
be difficult to affix the comb to the slippery surface of the glass,
curved it