ANIMAL LOCOMOTION 199 



back downwards. As the body of the creature is 

 studded with numerous spines, the stretching taut 

 of the skin causes the prickly armament to stand on 

 end, with the result that an adversary finds it more 

 convenient to proceed elsewhere in search of its 

 dinner. 



The gurnards are curious fish inasmuch as they 

 possess three finger-like processes situated in front 

 of each of their breast fins by means of which they 

 are able to walk upon the bed of the ocean ; while 

 the salmon, during the spawning season, indulge in 

 the curious habit of leaping out of the water (fre- 

 quently to a height of eight or ten feet) for the pur- 

 pose of making their way up rapids or over cascades. 

 In those rivers where the natural obstacles are too 

 difficult to allow the fish to jump over by their own 

 unaided efforts, wooden stairways or ladders are 

 provided for their use so that they can ascend by 

 degrees. 



Jumping as a means of locomotion is favoured by 

 many other creatures in addition to those we have 

 previously mentioned. The cricket, the click- 

 beetle or skip- jack, the flea and the sand-hopper, 

 for instance, are all experts in that manner of pro- 

 cedure, the latter being capable of leaping twelve 

 times as high as the length of its own body. Then, 

 again, most of us are familiar with the jumping- 

 bean, wherein dwells a maggot which has the mys- 

 terious power to lift itself and its domicile clear 

 from the ground by alternately contorting and 

 relaxing its body. 



The writer has seen it reported in all seriousness 



