INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE OF ANIMALS. 109 



popularly called sea-j^rapes. " [ was much amused," 

 lie says, "with the perfect self-possessiou of the first 

 that was hatched ia my presence. It had not been 

 free from the egg-shell for one minute before it began 

 a leisurely tour of the vessel in which it first saw the 

 light, examining it on both sides, as if to find out what 

 kind of place tbe world was after all. It then rose and 

 sank many times in succession over different spots, and 

 after balancing itself for a moment over one special 

 patch of sand, blew out a round hole in the sand, 

 into which it lowered itself, and there lay quite at its 

 ease. It executed this movement with as much ad- 

 dress as if it had practised the art for twenty years." 

 It would. in this case, perhaps, be not very difficult to 

 account for the apparently wise proceedings of the 

 little animal. Just released from the shell, it naturally 

 could hardly help spreading out its feelers ; being 

 immersed in water, this resulted in swimming. Tired 

 with swimming, it sank down on the sand, breathing 

 hard ; the action of its respiratory siphon, breathing 

 out water all the time, scooped out the sand, and 

 when a hole was made, the animal sank into it. From 

 this point of view, all its actions might be described 

 as the result of the structure of its body, inevitable 

 rather than insluictive. Still we cannot but contrast 

 its action with the helplessness of the young of the 

 higher animals; for instance, a young kitten kicks 

 about, but does not therefoi'e necessarily walk ; but 

 when the young cuttle-fish kicks about, its move- 

 ments fit in with one another so as to produce swim- 



