THE CONQUEST OF ‘THE DRY LAND) 205 
cise ; fumbling and stumbling are fatal. Butim- 
provement of movements means a more com- 
plicated muscular equipment and a more effec- 
tive controlling (or nervous) system. Itis fair to 
say that the brain was the controller of move- 
ments 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 pe- 
culiarity, such as coming out at night. No ani- 
mal 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 appren- 
ticeship to quick, precise movements, such as 
land animals require, was probably served on 
