Here it would seem that there is food for 

 thought. But I refrain from ruminating over this 

 flavorless fodder. Considerable drool is already 

 extant regarding the ruthlessness of Nature's 

 ways; and much of this is false philosophy, pure 

 and unadulterated drip . . . The larger preying 

 on the smaller, the stronger on the weaker . . . 

 Shocking; yet typical of the lower brute . . . But 

 is Man any better ? After all, this is simply a prob- 

 lem of food, and in solving this problem, we have 

 in no way proved ourselves to be superior to them. 

 It is true, we no longer eat one another; but we 

 have not ceased from resorting to butchering one 

 another — and we butcher with artificial refine- 

 ments of cruelty and torture such as are nowhere 

 else found among the creatures of Nature . . . 



The flounder is laid aside for later examination, 

 and with my wife's continued help, I now give 

 attention to the remainder of the angler's intesti- 

 nal tract. Our visceral pilgrimage, however, yields 

 little of interest; the process of digestion has 

 worked so well that not only the identity but 

 (superficially, at least) the very nature of its food 

 is not readily recognized. Also, our fish seems 

 singularly free of the usual guests that help par- 



[25] 



