Parasites 



straw of the threshing-floor, we used to talk 

 of the Dragon, the monster which, to inveigle 

 people and snap them up with greater cert- 

 ainty, became indistinguishable from a rock, 

 the trunk of a tree, a bundle of twigs. Since 

 those happy days of artless credulity, scepti- 

 cism has chilled my imagination to some ex- 

 tent. By way of a parallel with the three 

 examples which I have quoted, I ask myself 

 why the White Wagtail, who seeks his food 

 in the furrows as does the Lark, has a white 

 shirt-front surmounted by a magnificent black 

 stock. This dress is one of those most easily 

 picked out at a distance against the rusty 

 colours of the soil. Whence comes his neglect 

 to practice mimesis, "protective mimicry"? 

 He has every need of it, poor fellow, quite 

 as much as his companion in the fields! 



Why is the Eyed Lizard of Provence as 

 green as the Common Lizard, considering 

 that he shuns verdure and chooses as his 

 haunt, in the bright sunlight, some chink in 

 the naked rocks where not so much as a tuft 

 of moss grows? If, to capture his tiny prey, 

 his brother in the copses and the hedges 

 thought it necessary to dissemble and conse- 

 quently to dye his pearl-embroidered coat, 



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