CHAPTER III 



ANOTHER PROBER (PERFORATOR) 



WHAT can he be called, this creature 

 whose style and title I dare not inscribe 

 at the head of the chapter? His name is 

 Monodontomerus cupreus, Sm. Just try it, 

 for fun: Mo-no-don-to-me-rus. What a gor- 

 geous mouthful! What an idea it gives one 

 of some beast of the Apocalypse ! We think, 

 when we pronounce the word, of the pre- 

 historic monsters : the Mastodon, the Mam- 

 moth, the ponderous Megatherium. Well, 

 we are misled by the scientific label : we have 

 to do with a very paltry insect, smaller than 

 the common Gnat. 



There are good people like that, only too 

 happy to serve science with resounding ap- 

 pellations that might come from Timbuctoo; 

 they cannot name you a Midge without strik- 

 ing terror into you. O ye wise and revered 

 ones, ye christeners of animals, I am willing, 

 in my study, to make use — but not undue use 

 — of your harsh terminology, with its con- 

 glomeration of syllables; but there is a dan- 

 ger of their leaving the sanctum and appear- 

 ing before the public, which is always ready 



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