THE LAWS OF ORIENTATION AMONG ANIMALS. 493 



have made cm this subject a very curious observation. When a basket 

 of pigeons which have already performed journeys is carried by rail- 

 road, they manifest great agitation when they reach a station whence 

 they have formerly been released, although they remained indifferent 

 whenever they stopped at previous stations. Now, it will certaiuly be 

 admitted that a pigeon inclosed in a basket, which in turn is shut up iu 

 a dark carriage, can not, from the noise alone, distinguish one station 

 from another. Its sight and its other senses are of no use to it, since 

 it is as completely as possible isolated from whatever passes outside, 

 and yet it knows exactly where it is in respect to the point of its 

 departure. We were right, then, in saying that an animal carried to a 

 a distance possesses an entirely subjective idea of his situation inde- 

 pendent of the surroundings through which he is for the moment 

 passing. 



Mythology relates how Theseus, penetrating the mazes of the laby- 

 rinth, held in his hand the thread given him by Ariadne. Pie could in 

 this way go back on his own track and reach the entrance to the chasm. 

 Does it not seem that the animal possesses likewise the thread of 

 Ariadne, and unrolls it whenever he enters unknown regions"? 



Before we pass to a new course of thought, let us stop for an instant 

 to consider an objection which naturally occurs to us. We have cited 

 in support of our last deduction some observations made on the carrier 

 pigeon. Since the organ of distant orientation has been developed by 

 a wise selection in this interesting messenger, can we generalize and 

 apply to other animals the remarks which concern it? We do not 

 hesitate to answer such a question affirmatively. By selection man 

 develops a certain faculty abnormally to the detriment of some other; 

 he deforms the primitive type, often destroys the equilibrium of nature 

 for his own profit. He can not, however, develop a new faculty; he 

 must limit himself to only modifying the existing ones. Variation and 

 heredity are, in fact, the only means which he can use to accomplish 

 his purpose. We can not, therefore, discover in the carrier pigeon any 

 trait which did not exist in the germ in its wild ancestor. 



If a new example seems, nevertheless, necessary to confirm this the- 

 ory, we will cite another interesting fact from the history of migratory 

 birds. In 1883, on a dark night during a heavy squall, a flock of wild 

 geese alighted at Clermont-Ferrand on the church of St. Eutrope and 

 the neighboring houses. After a stay of two hours, the wind having 

 lulled, the birds took up their interrupted journey through the air. 

 Some of them, however, who had descended into the gardens or into 

 the courts, did not succeed in taking flight. They struck against the 

 walls or got entangled in the trees. Some were killed and others so 

 badly wounded that they were picked up the next morning by the 

 people. 



The wild goose has not an eye formed like that of nocturnal birds. 

 Deprived of sight by exceptional darkness, these birds did not, how- 



