[--Now is n't this the drollest world to live in that one could imagine,
short of being in a fit of delirium tremens? Here is a fellow-creature
of mine and yours who is asked to see all the glories of the firmament
brought close to him, and he is too busy with a little unmentionable
parasite that infests the bristly surface of a bee to spare an hour or
two of a single evening for the splendors of the universe! I must get a
peep through that microscope of his and see the pediculus which occupies
a larger space in his mental vision than the midnight march of the solar
systems.---The creature, the human one, I mean, interests me.]

--I am very curious,--I said,--about that pediculus melittae,--(just as
if I knew a good deal about the little wretch and wanted to know more,
whereas I had never heard him spoken of before, to my knowledge,)--could
you let me have a sight of him in your microscope?

--You ought to have seen the way in which the poor dried-up little
Scarabee turned towards me. His eyes took on a really human look, and I
almost thought those antennae-like arms of his would have stretched
themselves out and embraced me. I don't believe any of the boarders had
ever shown any interest in--him, except the little monkey of a Boy, since
he had been in the house. It is not strange; he had not seemed to me
much like a human being, until all at once I touched the one point where
his vitality had concentrated itself, and he stood revealed a man and a
brother.

--Come in,--said he,--come in, right after breakfast, and you shall see
the animal that has convulsed the entomological world with questions as
to his nature and origin.