THE CONQUEST OF THE DRY LAND 205 



fumbling and stumbling are fatal. But improve- 

 ment of movements means a more complicated 

 muscular equipment and a more effective con- 

 trolling (or nervous) system. It is fair to say 

 that the brain was the controller of movements 

 long before it was a thinking organ. 



We do not mean that the movements of 

 aquatic animals are not admirable. The swim- 

 ming fish or squid cannot be surpassed. We 

 mean that the freedom of movement in the 

 water allows a certain leisureliness (in jelly- 

 fishes, for instance) which is impossible on land, 

 unless there is some compensating peculiarity, 

 such as coming out at night. No animal moves 

 at random, but the water animal has a wider 

 range of alternatives than a land animal. And 

 it is not only that land animals are confined to 

 one plane, unless they learn to burrow, or climb, 

 or fly, they have to follow their food with a new 

 strenuousness. In the open sea, the deep sea, 

 and the fresh waters, and, to some extent, on the 

 shore, food is sometimes brought to the hungry 

 animal, but it is very seldom that this can be 

 said to occur on land. 



It must be noted, however, that an apprentice- 

 ship to quick, precise movements, such as land 

 animals require, was probably served on the 



