70 SHARP EYES 



enemies, not only in its poisonous chemical properties, 

 but the puff of vapor serves, perhaps, as a screen for es- 

 cape, throwing dust, as it were, in the eyes of its pur- 

 suer, and analogous to the inky cloud of the cuttle-fish 

 beneath the water. But why should the bombardier be 

 thus favored? He has legs and wings like others of 

 his tribe, and needs no such resource of escape. 



Shall we dismiss all recognition of any humorous in- 

 tention in nature? Has travesty no place in the divine 

 scheme? I confess that, excepting as a bit of droll 

 eccentricity, the bombardier has little to pique my phi- 

 losophy. 



