A curiously interesting bit of behavior appeared for the first time on June 29.  Julius had gone to the first box at the right end of the group, and instead of entering, he had wheeled around toward his right, and turning a complete circle, faced the right box, which he promptly entered.  Subsequently, the tendency developed and the method was used with increasing frequency.  On June 30, it appeared in the first series, four times, in the second series, six times; on July 1, in the first series, three times, and in the second series, four times; on July 2, in the first series, five times, and in the second series, nine times.  It was indeed only by accident that the animal failed to fulfill the technical requirement for perfect solution of the problem in this series.  Yet, had he done so, his subsequent trials would doubtless have revealed the lack of any other idea than that of turning completely around before entering a box.

This odd bit of behavior proved peculiarly interesting and significant in that the tendency to turn became dissociated from the position (in front of the first box at the right end of the group) in connection with which it originally developed.  After a few days, Julius would enter the reaction-chamber and instead of proceeding directly to the right end of the group, would stop suddenly wherever he happened to be, turn toward his right in a complete circle, and hasten into the box nearest to him which, as often as not, proved to be the wrong one.  Thus the idea of turning completely about, which had it continued its association with the idea of facing the first box at the right, would have yielded success, instead became useless because of its dissociation.  That the orang utan is capable of using free ideas seems clear enough in the light of this behavior.  That he proved incapable of getting the idea of second from the right end is as clearly shown by the detailed results of table 9,—­the fruits of weeks of experimenting.

Certain other interesting tricks developed in Julius’s behavior.  Thus, on July 5, there appeared the tendency to move as though about to enter the right box (feint), then to stop suddenly and promptly enter another box, which was, of course, a wrong one.  The reason for the development of this tendency could not be discovered, but in connection with it, there appeared another tendency which possibly can be explained.  Julius took to backing into the chosen box so that he could face the experimenter.  He would then, after a period of hesitation, come out and promptly enter one of the other boxes.  This tendency was apparently due to the fact that during one or two series the experimenter growled at the orang utan every time he made a mistake.  The growl startled him and caused him to look around.  He evidently felt the need of keeping his eyes on the experimenter,—­Hence the backing into the open box.  The tendency disappeared shortly after the experimenter gave up the use of the growl as a method of punishing the animal for what were suspected to be careless choices.