Note 1 — Chapter XI · THE DWARFS

Insects too, no less than men and stew-pans, always find their natural complement, though it mate the faultless with the faulty. Of this Minotaurus Typhœus furnishes a splendid example. The hazards of excavation present me with a curious couple, keeping house at the bottom of a burrow. The female calls for no special remark: she is just a handsome matron. But the male! What a sorry creature, what an abortion! The middle point of his trident is reduced to a mere spiked granule; those at the side come just level with the eyes, whereas in normal subjects they reach the extreme point of the head. I measure the little beggar. His length is twelve millimetres1 instead of eighteen,2 the ordinary size. According to these figures, the dwarf is barely a quarter of the usual bulk.