THE CAUSE AND THE CAUSER. 13

lying half untwisted on the grass. He had drawn
his feelers along it; but came against something
which stopped the way.

The shout was excusable, as surprise had startled
him, but it brought the sitting magistrate’s think-
ing nap to a sudden end. He appeared at the
door of his shell, and inquired if Dr. Harwig had
discovered anything worth disturbing him for, so
soon ?

Dr. Earwig thought he had. He had at any
rate discovered an all-sufficient cause of death,
whether deceased had died of it or not. He had
found a foreign body—several foreign bodies, in
fact, attached to the creature’s proboscis; and,
so loaded, a proboscis: could scarcely enter—much
less comfortably dip into—the delicate flower-
pouches: for food. Sooner or later, therefore, its
_ owner must—starve ! |

“ Dreadful !” shuddered the. sitting magistrate,
with difficulty resisting the impulse to shut him-
self up and think. “But our friend shall not die
unavenged! Professor, who is to blame?”

The professor replied they had not reached that