THE FEELERS OF THE BARBED MULLET 



ducts it carries along, either normally or by accident, 

 contains substances endowed with savours which the 

 creature perceives, whose intensity it measures, and 

 these govern its behaviour. The living automaton is 

 set in action accordingly. 



To return to the comparison we have already made, 

 the fish behaves like the dog, like land animals pos- 

 sessed of an olfactory flair. It has a flair of its own, 

 and exercises it by taste. It receives tasty emanations 

 coming from various directions. They make an im- 

 pression upon it. Then it reacts to this action of the 

 environment, and shows its reaction by moving. The 

 dog perceives tracks on the ground; it goes, comes, 

 turns and returns until it has " found ". Likewise the 

 fish perceives the real and diffused currents which bring 

 it substances possessed of savour; it swims about and 

 searches until it too has "found." 



In an old song, little children are taken by a fairy to 

 the temple of gluttony, where the floors are paved with 

 sweets, the walls covered with cakes, and the ceiling 

 with nougat and marzipan, something to please every 

 taste. The world of waters is a realization of this 

 idea; it is a world of savoury things. The creatures 

 which inhabit it are bathed in sapid effluvia; they have 

 only to choose. The world of air and land is a world of 

 odours, and the dwellers in it are only reached by odor- 

 ous effluvia, transmitted by the air which surrounds 

 them. Both are alike and yet contrasted; they deal 

 with different situations by identical means. 



But when we take all things into consideration, the 

 world of waters seems better served. Savour has the 

 advantage of odour; it arouses more powerful, more 

 attractive, more prolonged sensations; it is more closely 

 bound up with the satisfaction of feeding, and this is one 

 of the main satisfactions of life. The fish tastes slowly 

 and deliberately. It begins to taste before it has seized 

 its prey, and this tasting makes more impression than 

 the sniffing of some slight odour; it goes on tasting as 

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