t the _Toxotes
jaculator_, who lives in the rivers of India. His principal food is
formed by the insects who wander over the leaves of aquatic plants. To
wait until they fell into the water would naturally result in but
meagre fare. To leap at them with one bound is difficult, not to
mention that the noise would cause them to flee. The _Toxotes_ knows a
better trick than that. He draws in some drops of water, and,
contracting his mouth, projects them with so much force and certainty
that they rarely fail to reach the chosen aim, and to bring into the
water all the insects he desires.[21] (Fig. 5.) Other animals also
squirt various liquids, sometimes in attack, but more especially in
defence. The Cephalopods, for example, emit their ink, which darkens
the water and allows them to flee. Certain insects exude bitter or
foetid liquids; but in all these cases, and in others that are similar,
the animal finds in his own organism a secretion which happens to be
more or less useful to his conservation. The method of the _Toxotes_
is different. It is a foreign body which he takes up, and it is an
intended victim at which he takes aim and which he strikes; his
movements are admirably co-ordinated to obtain a precise effect.

[21] Cuvier et Valenciennes, _Hist. Nat. des Poissons_,
Paris, 1831, t. vii. p. 231.

Another fish, the _Chelinous_ of Java, also acts in this manner. He
generally lives in estuaries. It is therefore a brackish water which
he takes up and projects by closing his gills and contracting his
mouth; he can thus strike a fly at a distance of several feet. Usually
he aims sufficiently well to strike it at the first blow, but
sometimes he fails. Then he begins again until he has succeeded, which
shows that his movements are not those of a machine. He knows what he
is doing, what effect ought to be produced, and whether this desired
result has happened, and he perseveres until the insect has fallen.
These facts are unquestioned; the Chinese preserve these curious fish
in jars, and amuse themselves by making them carry on this little
exercise. Many observers have witnessed and described it.

_Particular circumstances put to profit._--In the various kinds of
hunting which we have been passing in review, it is certain that the
animals in question generally exercise them nearly always in the same
manner. If an animal has carried out a ruse successfully he does not
abandon it, but reproduces it as often as it