THE NUPTIAL FLIGHT 175 



such a fashion that he can make use of it only in space. 

 A prolonged flight must first expand his two great tracheal 

 sacs ; these enormous receptacles being gorged on air will 

 throw back the lower part of the abdomen, and permit the 

 exsertion of the organ. 



There we have the whole physiological secret — which 

 will seem ordinary enough to some, and almost vulgar to 

 others — of this dazzling pursuit and these magnificent nuptials. 



" But must we always then," the poet will wonder, 

 " rejoice in regions that are loftier than the truth ? " 



Yes, in all things, at all times, let us rejoice, not in 

 regions loftier than the truth, for that were impossible, but 

 in regions higher than the little truths that our eye can 

 seize. Should a chance, a recollection, an illusion, a passion ; 

 in a v/ord, should any motive whatever cause an object to 

 reveal itself to us in a more beautiful light than to others, 

 let that motive be first of all dear to us. It may only be 

 error, perhaps ; but this error will not prevent the moment 

 wherein this object appears the most admirable to us, from 

 being the moment wherein we are likeliest to perceive its 

 real beauty. The beauty we lend it directs our attention to 

 its veritable beauty and grandeur, which, derived as they are 

 from the relation wherein every object must of necessity 

 stand to general, eternal forces and laws, might otherwise 

 escape obsei'vation. The faculty of admiring, which an illu- 

 sion may have created within us, will serve for the truth 

 that must sooner or later come. It is with the words, the 



