THE LAWS OF ORIENTATION AMONG ANIMALS. 485 



It has been objected that orientation from a distance or near at hand 

 is always the same act, and that it is illogical, contrary to the estab- 

 lished order of things, to see the same functions carried on by two dis- 

 tinct organs. But this objection is not well taken. It is quite frequent 

 to see in nature the same function accomplished by very different organs. 



The strawberry, for instance, is reproduced by means of the seeds 

 formed by the foundation of the flower. It is also reproduced by means 

 of runners that grow out from the plant, take root in their turn and 

 abandon the fragile thread that holds them to the mother plant.' Close 

 observation will enable us to cite many examples of the same sort. The 

 hypothesis that a special sense comes in to take the place of the five 

 original senses, whose range is limited, has in it nothing illogical. 



III. 



We will now study a number of interesting cases, seeking to deduce 

 from them the mechanism of orientation from a distance. 



First. During a hunt with greyhounds that took place in the forest 

 of Orleans, a stag, not the animal hunted, was followed by some dogs; 

 cornered in an angle of the forest he " went away;" the master of the 

 hunt, seeing the mistake made, recalled his dogs and set them on the 

 right track. But a poacher who had seen the stag leave the forest 

 noted exactly the place where he passed out and lay in wait for him, 

 feeling certain that the animal when he no longer thought himself 

 threatened would return, by the next morning at the latest, and over 

 exactly the same path by which he had made his exit. The result 

 proved him right. The poacher had made use of the fact well known to 

 the charcoal burners who live in the forest of Orleans. The stags and 

 roebuck, finding almost everything they need for food in the forest, 

 almost never leave it. When for any reason whatever they go out into 

 the adjoining land they follow in return the same road they used in 

 going. 



The art of setting snares is founded on this observation. The snare 

 prepared in the woods at a point presumably on the track of an animal, 

 or even exactly at the spot where the animal has passed, does not 

 necessarily entrap him. He wanders throughout the whole extent of 

 his domain, often leaving one track to try new ones; while an animal 

 which has ventured into strange territory will surely return shortly and 

 pass at the same point at which he went out. If the snare be set at a 

 point where his departure was observed he will suiely be taken. 



Second. The horse which passes twenty-two or twenty hours every 

 day in the stable in semi obscurity, his nose against the wall, can not 

 be endowed with much instinct. All voluntary action is forbidden him, 

 since he can only act in obedience to his master. His instinct is, if not 

 atrophied, at least exceedingly diminished. 



The stable is a permanent center of attraction to the horse, who finds 



The plant-louse lias also several methods of reproduction. 



