food-particles or swimming prey. So close do they 

 now stand that their bodies actually touch; yet not 

 the slightest animosity is shown. Opportunity for 

 no slight advantage is offered to the one who first 

 strikes, but neither makes a gesture, let alone an 

 attempt to attack. 



What is the reason for this change in temper? 

 . . . Well, among The Thousand and One Nights 

 I have spent idling at the eyepiece of the micro- 

 scope, many riddles such as this have presented 

 themselves to view. They are not the least among 

 the fascinations that the instrument reveals. But 

 their solving requires lucubration and labor. And 

 as this is but another of those Arabian Nights' En- 

 tertainments in that world of miniature marvels — 

 purely a night of play — I refuse for the present to 

 toil. But I catalogue for future consideration the 

 foregoing question, which I know too well will 

 forever remain unanswered. 



[147] 



