GUINEVERE THE MYSTERIOUS 135 



ago, who came without warning, and withheld 

 all the secrets of his life. And I glanced again 

 at this super-tad, — as unlike her ultimate devel- 

 opment as the grub is unlike the beetle, — and one 

 of us exclaimed, "It is the same, or nearly, but 

 more delicate, more beautiful ; it must be Guine- 

 vere." And so, probably for the first time in the 

 world, there came to be a pet tadpole, one with 

 an absurd name which will forever be more sig- 

 nificant to us than the term applied by a forgot- 

 ten herpetologist many years ago. 



And Guinevere became known to all who had 

 to do with the laboratory. Her health and daily 

 development and color-change were things to be 

 inquired after and discussed; one of us watched 

 her closely and made notes of her life, one painted 

 every radical development of color and pattern, 

 another photographed her, and another brought 

 her delectable scum. She was waited upon as 

 sedulously as a termite queen. And she re- 

 warded us by living, which was all we asked. 



It is difficult for a diver to express his emo- 

 tions on paper, and verbal arguments with a den- 

 tist are usually one-sided. So must the spirit 

 of a tadpole suffer greatly from handicaps of the 

 flesh. A mumbling mouth and an uncontrollable. 



