Sobke was first given this test on July 24.  He tried persistently to reach the banana with his hand, seized the box which supported the bait, shook it, picked up one or other of the sticks, and chewed at it repeatedly, but not once did he make any move to use a stick to draw the food toward him.

This experiment was repeated on July 27, 29, 30 and 31, a period of thirty minutes being allowed on each day for observation.  At no time did Sobke show any inclination to use either a stick or any other object as a means of reaching the bait.  Instead, he confined himself strictly to the use of hands and teeth.

This test makes it fairly certain that Sobke had no natural tendency to use objects as tools.  In so far as he attended to things about the cage or laboratory, it seemed to be rather to play with them in a general way than to use them ideationally or otherwise for definite purposes.

The definitely negative result of the draw-in experiment rendered needless prolonged observation with the box and pole test, whose results are now to be presented.

Box and Pole Experiment

The eighty-four inch box, previously used for a similar test with Julius, was presented to Sobke on August 24, the wooden cover having been replaced by a wire one so that the monkey could readily see the bait in the middle of the box.  Sobke, when admitted to the large cage, went directly to the box and at once discovered the banana which was midway between the ends.  He evidently desired it.  Shortly, he went to one end of the box and looked in.  This he repeated later.  He also shook the box and tried to pull it about and tear it with his teeth, but to the two poles lying nearby on the floor of the cage he gave not the slightest attention during a thirty minute period of observation.

The experiment was not repeated because of more important work.

Other Activities

In more respects than I have taken time to enumerate in the above descriptions of behavior, the relations of Sobke to objects differed from those of Skirrl, and still more from those of Julius.  Hammer, nails, saw, stones, sticks, locks, and various other objects received relatively little attention from Sobke unless they happened to come in his way; then they were usually pushed aside with but scant notice.  Rarely he would carry something to the shelf of his cage with him, but as a rule only to lay it down and attend to something else.  Skirrl, on the contrary, attended persistently to anything new in the shape of a movable object.  He was extremely partial to objects which could be manipulated by him in various ways, and especially to any thing with which he could make a noise.  His interest in hammer and nails, saw, locks, etc., seemed never to wane.  I have seen him play for an hour almost uninterruptedly with a hammer and a nail, or even with a big spike which he could use to pry about his cage.  In the