AUGUST 290 



The sight of Martha wrestling with a very large worm always 

 reminds me of a seldom-seen combat, which once it was my good 

 fortune to behold, between a thresher {A/opias vulpes) or threshers— 

 for I could not be sure whether there was one or more of them — and 

 a large whale. What the exact connection in my mind may be I 

 cannot say, for the creatures concerned are different indeed in size, 

 but I fancy that it has to do with the ferocity of the efforts made in 

 either case by the attacker and its victim. Never shall I forget 

 that titanic scene. The huge ocean mammal lay floundering and 

 blowing upon the surface of the sea, into whose depths from time 

 to time he tried to sink ; but whenever he began to ' sound ' some- 

 thing always seemed to prevent him. Whether this failure was 

 owing to the action of a swordfish working away at the whale 

 underneath, in order to keep him on the top of the water while the 

 thresher or threshers attended to business above, is more than I 

 can say. I have been told, however, that these two creatures enter 

 into partnership for this murderous purpose, with the result that, 

 notwithstanding his size and strength, the whale attacked has about 

 as much chance against them as has the log which lies between 

 the top and bottom sawyers of escaping unsevered from the pit. 



sudden change of the weather from unseasonable cold to summer heat has 

 caused it to remember with pleasure the damp shaded greenhouse with its 

 abounding worms, and to seek shelter there. But this presupposes memory, 

 for instinct would not bring a creature back to a conservatory. And if toads 

 have active memory of such sort ?— but the problem is too deep for me. At any 

 rate there is Jane — all have recognised her pale complexion, her widowed air. 

 I am proud to add also that the sjTnpathy between us, which I thought gone, 

 is quite restored, for now Jane allows me to stroke her speckly head, and puffs 

 herself out with pleasure at the touch of kindness which makes us kin. Her 

 appetite, too, is excellent ; she has just breakfasted off three woodlice (one 

 large), two centipedes, and half a worm — and yet almost do I wish that I could 

 persuade Jane to become a vegetarian. Another strange occurrence : a second 

 half-grown toad has appeared in the same greenhouse, a weird, wild, fear- 

 haunted creature, that won't sit still. Can this be Babette — the lost Babette, 

 whose fate was hid in mystery — Babette whom we thought anthro- or Bufo- 

 pophagically absorbed — escaped and adolescent ? Who knows ? But the 

 bold Martha — where is She ? 



