n the spot, though the
phrase has slipped from its original moorings. Speaking of his Bonnet
Monkey, an Indian macaque, second cousin to the kind that lives on the
Rock of Gibraltar, Professor S. J. Holmes writes: "For keenness of
perception, rapidity of action, facility in forming good practical
judgments about ways and means of escaping pursuit and of attaining
various other ends, Lizzie had few rivals in the animal world.... Her
perceptions and decisions were so much more rapid than my own that she
would frequently transfer her attention, decide upon a line of action,
and carry it into effect before I was aware of what she was about. Until
I came to guard against her nimble and unexpected manoeuvres, she
succeeded in getting possession of many apples and peanuts which I had
not intended to give her except upon the successful performance of some
task."

Quick to Learn

Quite fundamental to any understanding of animal behaviour is the
distinction so clearly drawn by Sir Ray Lankester between the
"little-brain" type, rich in inborn or instinctive capacities, but
relatively slow to learn, and the "big-brain" type, with a relatively
poor endowment of specialised instincts, but with great educability. The
"little-brain" type finds its climax in ants and bees; the "big-brain"
type in horses and dogs, elephants and monkeys. And of all animals
monkeys are the quickest to learn, if we use the word "learn" to mean
the formation of useful associations between this and that, between a
given sense-presentation and a particular piece of behaviour.

The Case of Sally

Some of us remember Sally, the chimpanzee at the "Zoo" with which Dr.
Romanes used to experiment. She was taught to give her teacher the
number of straws he asked for, and she soon learned to do so up to five.
If she handed a number not asked for, her offer was refused; if she gave
the proper number, she got a piece of fruit. If she was asked for five
straws, she picked them up individually and placed them in her mouth,
and when she had gathered five she presented them together in her hand.
Attempts to teach her to give six to ten straws were not very
successful. For Sally "above six" meant "many," and besides, her limits
of patience were probably less than her range of computation. This was
hinted at by the highly interesting circumstance that when dealing with
numbers above five she very frequently doubled over a straw so as to
make it present two ends and t