596 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



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, contracting 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 insects he desires 

 (Fig. 2). Other animals also squirt various liquids, sometimes in 



attack, but more especial- 

 ly in defense. The cepha- 

 lopods, for example, emit 

 their ink, which darkens 

 the water and allows them 

 to flee. Certain insects 

 exude bitter or fetid li- 

 quids; but in all these 

 cases, and in others that 

 are similar, the animal 

 finds in his own organ- 

 ism a secretion which 

 happens to be more or 

 less useful to his conser- 

 vation. The method of 

 the Toxotes is different. 

 It is a foreign body which 

 he takes up, and it is an 

 intended victim at which 

 he takes aim and which 

 he strikes ; his move- 

 ments are admirably co- 

 ordinated to obtain a pre- 

 cise effect. 



Another fish, the Che- 

 linous of Java, also acts 

 in this manner. He gen- 

 erally lives in estuaries. 



It is therefore a brackish water which he takes up and projects 

 by closing his gills and contracting his mouth ; he can thus strike 

 a fly at a distance of several feet. Usually he aims sufficiently 

 well to strike it at the first blow, but sometimes he fails. Then 

 he begins again until he has succeeded, which shows that his 

 movements are not those of a machine. 



METHODS OF UTILIZING THE CAPTURED GAME. Frequently it 

 is not enough for the animal to obtain possession of his prey. 

 Before making his meal it is still necessary to find a method of 

 making use of it, either because the eatable parts are buried in a 

 thick shell which he is unable to break, or because he has captured 

 a creature which rolls itself into a ball and bristles its plumes. 



FIG. 2. THE TOXOTES THROWING WATER AT INSECTS. 



