CHAPTER XVIII 



THE CLYTHR^E 



THE Lily-beetle dresses herself: with her 

 ordure she makes herself a cosy gown, 

 an infamous garment, it is true, but an ex- 

 cellent protection against parasites and sun- 

 stroke. The weaver of faecal cloth has 

 hardly any imitators. The Hermit-crab 

 dresses himself: he selects to fit him, from the 

 discarded wardrobe of the Sea-snail, an 

 empty shell, damaged by the waves; he slips 

 his poor abdomen, which is incapable of 

 hardening, inside it and leaves outside his 

 great fists of unequal size, clad in stone box- 

 ing-gloves. This is yet another example 

 rarely followed. 



With a few exceptions, all the more re- 

 markable because they are so rare, the ani- 

 mal, in fact, is not burdened by the need of 

 clothing itself. Endowed, without having to 

 manufacture a thing, with all that it wants, 

 it knows nothing of the art of adding defen- 

 sive extras to its natural covering. 



The bird has no need to take thought of 

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