1576 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



resist the animation shown by his active foe, and is 

 seized and killed. Then the other wolf calmly ap- 

 proaches the place of the feast to share his part of 

 the booty. 



The fox also successfully uses this method of 

 coursing with relays. 



It has often been repeated that man is the only crea- 

 ture sufficiently intelligent to utilize as weapons ex- 

 terior objects like a stone or a brick; in a much greater 

 degree, therefore, it was said, was he the only creature 

 capable of striking from afar with a projectile. 

 Nevertheless creatures so inferior as fish exhibit ex- 

 treme skill in the art of reaching their prey at a dis- 

 tance. Several act in this way. There is first the 

 Toxotes jaculator, who lives in the rivers of India. 

 His principal food is formed by the insects who 

 wander over the leaves of aquatic plants. To wait 

 until they fell into the water would naturally result 

 in but meagre fare. To leap at them with one bound 

 is difficult, not to mention that the noise would cause 

 them to flee. The Toxotes knows a better trick than 

 that. He draws in some drops of water, and, con- 

 tracting his mouth, projects them with so much force 

 and certainty that they rarely fail to reach the 

 chosen aim, and to bring into the water all the in- 

 sects he desires. Other animals also squirt various 

 liquids, sometimes in attack, but more especially in 

 defence. The Cephalopods, for example, emit their 

 ink, which darkens the water and allows them to 

 flee. Certain insects exude bitter or foetid liquids; 

 but in all these cases, and in others that are similar, 

 the animal finds in his own organism a secretion 



