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259

auricula

the second the poor graying

soldiers began their giggling

description of the ears’

scandalous sexual practices

every single Englishman

immediately lifted his pen.

This much is known, however,

that it is especially on the

promontory’s wild, desolate

eastern slope that the ears

subsist. It is from there that

theearsundertakeexpeditions

to renew their mimes. On

these steep slopes, furrowed

by rugged ravines, the ears

live in symbiotic relationship

with Europe’s only species of

primate, Macacus inuus, with

whom they not only share a

unique status, but also the

rich growth of dwarf palms

which develop particularly

will here thanks to the

limestone in the sparse

topsoil. Whether or not the

macaques, which are actually

indigenous to north Africa,

were wild or imported is

unknown. In the previous

century the population

dwindled to three individuals,

a situation subsequently

remedied by English officers

who had several specimens

brought over from Africa, and

now they again live in flocks,

though ut ter l y feral ,

perpetually seeking the lee

side of this gigantic cliff. In

color the monkeys are

yellowish gray with a flesh-

toned face, they entirely lack

tails, but like their conspecifics

in Japan and Tibet they do

have seat cushions. Extinct

specimens have been found,

for example, in France and

Italy, and even more recently

a partial jawbone found in

Essex proves that the

macaques managed to survive

in England. The focus of the

ears’ symbiosis with this

remarkable, though little

remarked upon creature,

however, is a small theater