CHAPTER XVI 



A TRUFFLE-HUNTER : THE BOLBOCERAS GALLICUS 



In the matter of physics we hear of nothing to-day but 

 the Rontgen rays, which penetrate opaque bodies and 

 photograph the invisible. A splendid discovery ; but 

 nothing very remarkable as compared with the surprises 

 reserved for us by the future, when, better instructed as 

 to the why and wherefore of things than now, and 

 supplementing our feeble senses by means of science, 

 we shall succeed in rivalling, however imperfectly, the 

 sensorial acuteness of the lower animals. 



How enviable, in how many cases, is the superiority 

 of the beasts 1 It makes us realise the insufftciency of 

 our impressions, and the very indifferent efficacy of our 

 sense-organs ; it proclaims realities which amaze us, so 

 far are they beyond our own attributes. 



A miserable caterpillar, the Processional caterpillar, 

 found on the pine-tree, has its back covered with 

 meteorological spiracles which sense the coming weather 

 and foretell the storm ; the bird of prey, that incom- 

 parable watchman, sees the fallen mule from the heights 

 of the clouds ; the blind bats guided their flight without 

 collision through the inextricable labyrinth of threads 

 devised by Spallanzani ; the carrier pigeon, at a hundred 



