Parasites 



nature I There is a deceptive agreement be- 

 tween a few actual facts and the theory 

 which we are so foolishly ready to believe; 

 and straightway we interpret the facts in the 

 light of the theory. In a speck of the im- 

 mense unknown we catch a glimpse of a 

 phantom truth, a shadow, a will-o'-the-wisp; 

 once the atom is explained, for better or 

 worse, we imagine that we hold the explana- 

 tion of the universe and all that it contains; 

 and we forthwith shout : 



"The great law of Nature! Behold the 

 infallible law!" 



Meanwhile, the discordant facts, an in- 

 numerable host, clamour at the gates of the 

 law, being unable to gain admittance. 



At the door of that infinitely restricted law 

 clamour the great tribe of Golden Wasps, 

 whose -dazzling splendour, worthy of the 

 wealth of Golconda, clashes with the dingy 

 colour of their haunts. To deceive the eyes 

 of their bird-tyrants, the Swift, the Swallow, 

 the Chat and the others, these Chrysis-wasps, 

 who glow like a carbuncle, like a nugget in 

 the midst of its dark veinstone, certainly do 

 not adapt themselves to the sand and the clay 

 of their downs. The Green Grasshopper, so 

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