The octopus, in fact, clings so tightly to
the rocks that it cannot be pulled off, but remains attached even when
the knife is employed to sever it; and yet, if you apply fleabane to
the creature, it drops off at the very smell of it. The facts are
similar in regard to taste. For the food that insects go in quest of
is of diverse kinds, and they do not all delight in the same flavours:
for instance, the bee never settles on a withered or wilted flower,
but on fresh and sweet ones; and the conops or gnat settles only on
acrid substances and not on sweet. The sense of touch, by the way,
as has been remarked, is common to all animals. Testaceans have the
senses of smell and taste. With regard to their possession of the
sense of smell, that is proved by the use of baits, e.g. in the case
of the purple-fish; for this creature is enticed by baits of rancid
meat, which it perceives and is attracted to from a great distance.
The proof that it possesses a sense of taste hangs by the proof of its
sense of smell; for whenever an animal is attracted to a thing by
perceiving its smell, it is sure to like the taste of it. Further, all
animals furnished with a mouth derive pleasure or pain from the
touch of sapid juices.
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