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diff --git a/2884.txt b/2884.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04d6dbc --- /dev/null +++ b/2884.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6557 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mason-bees, by J. Henri Fabre + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mason-bees + +Author: J. Henri Fabre + +Translator: Alexander Teixeira de Mattos + +Posting Date: December 25, 2008 [EBook #2884] +Release Date: October, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASON-BEES *** + + + + +Produced by Sue Asscher + + + + + +THE MASON-BEES + +By J. Henri Fabre + + +Translated By Alexander Teixeira De Mattos + + + + +TRANSLATOR'S NOTE. + +This volume contains all the essays on the Chalicodomae, or Mason-bees +proper, which so greatly enhance the interest of the early volumes of +the "Souvenirs entomologiques." I have also included an essay on the +author's Cats and one on Red Ants--the only study of Ants comprised +in the "Souvenirs"--both of which bear upon the sense of direction +possessed by the Bees. Those treating of the Osmiae, who are also +Mason-Bees, although not usually known by that name, will be found in +a separate volume, which I have called "Bramble-bees and Others" and +in which I have collected all that Fabre has written on such other Wild +Bees as the Megachiles, or Leaf-cutters, the Cotton-bees, the Resin-bees +and the Halicti. + +The essays entitled "The Mason-bees, Experiments" and "Exchanging the +Nests" form the last three chapters of "Insect Life", translated by the +author of "Mademoiselle Mori" and published by Messrs. Macmillan, who, +with the greatest courtesy and kindness have given me their permission +to include a new translation of these chapters in the present volume. +They did so without fee or consideration of any kind, merely on my +representation that it would be a great pity if this uniform edition +of Fabre's Works should be rendered incomplete because certain essays +formed part of volumes of extracts previously published in this country. +Their generosity is almost unparalleled in my experience; and I wish +to thank them publicly for it in the name of the author, of the French +publishers and of the English and American publishers, as well as in my +own. + +Some of the chapters have appeared in England in the "Daily Mail", the +"Fortnightly Review" and the "English Review"; some in America in "Good +Housekeeping" and the "Youth's Companion"; others now see the light in +English for the first time. + +I have again to thank Miss Frances Rodwell for the invaluable assistance +which she has given me in the work of translation and in the less +interesting and more tedious department of research. + +ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS. + +Chelsea, 1914. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +TRANSLATOR'S NOTE. + +CHAPTER 1. THE MASON-BEES. + +CHAPTER 2. EXPERIMENTS. + +CHAPTER 3. EXCHANGING THE NESTS. + +CHAPTER 4. MORE ENQUIRIES INTO MASON-BEES. + +CHAPTER 5. THE STORY OF MY CATS. + +CHAPTER 6. THE RED ANTS. + +CHAPTER 7. SOME REFLECTIONS UPON INSECT PSYCHOLOGY. + +CHAPTER 8. PARASITES. + +CHAPTER 9. THE THEORY OF PARASITISM. + +CHAPTER 10. THE TRIBULATIONS OF THE MASON-BEE. + +CHAPTER 11. THE LEUCOPSES. + +INDEX. + + + + +CHAPTER 1. THE MASON-BEES. + +Reaumur (Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur (1683-1757), inventor of the +Reaumur thermometer and author of "Memoires pour servir a l'histoire +naturelle des insectes."--Translator's Note.) devoted one of his +papers to the story of the Chalicodoma of the Walls, whom he calls +the Mason-bee. I propose to go on with the story, to complete it and +especially to consider it from a point of view wholly neglected by that +eminent observer. And, first of all, I am tempted to tell how I made +this Bee's acquaintance. + +It was when I first began to teach, about 1843. I had left the normal +school at Vaucluse some months before, with my diploma and all the +simple enthusiasm of my eighteen years, and had been sent to Carpentras, +there to manage the primary school attached to the college. It was +a strange school, upon my word, notwithstanding its pompous title of +'upper'; a sort of huge cellar oozing with the perpetual damp engendered +by a well backing on it in the street outside. For light there was the +open door, when the weather permitted, and a narrow prison-window, with +iron bars and lozenge panes set in lead. By way of benches there was a +plank fastened to the wall all round the room, while in the middle was a +chair bereft of its straw, a black-board and a stick of chalk. + +Morning and evening, at the sound of the bell, there came rushing in +some fifty young imps who, having shown themselves hopeless dunces with +their Cornelius Nepos, had been relegated, in the phrase of the day, +to 'a few good years of French.' Those who had found mensa too much for +them came to me to get a smattering of grammar. Children and strapping +lads were there, mixed up together, at very different educational +stages, but all incorrigibly agreed to play tricks upon the master, the +boy master who was no older than some of them, or even younger. + +To the little ones I gave their first lessons in reading; the +intermediate ones I showed how they should hold their pen to write a +few lines of dictation on their knees; to the big ones I revealed the +secrets of fractions and even the mysteries of Euclid. And to keep this +restless crowd in order, to give each mind work in accordance with its +strength, to keep attention aroused and lastly to expel dullness from +the gloomy room, whose walls dripped melancholy even more than dampness, +my one resource was my tongue, my one weapon my stick of chalk. + +For that matter, there was the same contempt in the other classes for +all that was not Latin or Greek. One instance will be enough to show +how things then stood with the teaching of physics, the science which +occupies so large a place to-day. The principal of the college was a +first-rate man, the worthy Abbe X., who, not caring to dispense beans +and bacon himself, had left the commissariat-department to a relative +and had undertaken to teach the boys physics. + +Let us attend one of his lessons. The subject is the barometer. The +establishment happens to possess one, an old apparatus, covered with +dust, hanging on the wall beyond the reach of profane hands and bearing +on its face, in large letters, the words stormy, rain, fair. + +'The barometer,' says the good abbe, addressing his pupils, whom, in +patriarchal fashion, he calls by their Christian names, 'the barometer +tells us if the weather will be good or bad. You see the words written +on the face--stormy, rain--do you see, Bastien?' + +'Yes, I see,' says Bastien, the most mischievous of the lot. + +He has been looking through his book and knows more about the barometer +than his teacher does. + +'It consists,' the abbe continues, 'of a bent glass tube filled with +mercury, which rises and falls according to the weather. The shorter +leg of this tube is open; the other...the other...well, we'll see. Here, +Bastien, you're the tallest, get up on the chair and just feel with your +finger if the long leg is open or closed. I can't remember for certain.' + +Bastien climbs on the chair, stands as high as he can on tip-toe and +fumbles with his finger at the top of the long column. Then, with a +discreet smile spreading under the silky hairs of his dawning moustache: + +'Yes,' he says, 'that's it. The long leg is open at the top. There, I +can feel the hole.' + +And Bastien, to confirm his mendacious statement, keeps wriggling +his forefinger at the top of the tube, while his fellow-conspirators +suppress their enjoyment as best they can. + +'That will do,' says the unconscious abbe. 'You can get down, Bastien. +Take a note of it, boys: the longer leg of the barometer is open; take a +note of it. It's a thing you might forget; I had forgotten it myself.' + +Thus was physics taught. Things improved, however: a master came and +came to stay, one who knew that the long leg of the barometer is closed. +I myself secured tables on which my pupils were able to write instead +of scribbling on their knees; and, as my class was daily increasing +in numbers, it ended by being divided into two. As soon as I had an +assistant to look after the younger boys, things assumed a different +aspect. + +Among the subjects taught, one in particular appealed to both masters +and pupils. This was open-air geometry, practical surveying. The college +had none of the necessary outfit; but, with my fat pay--seven hundred +francs a year, if you please!--I could not hesitate over the expense. +A surveyor's chain and stakes, arrows, level, square and compass were +bought with my money. A microscopic graphometer, not much larger than +the palm of one's hand and costing perhaps five francs, was provided +by the establishment. There was no tripod to it; and I had one made. In +short, my equipment was complete. + +And so, when May came, once every week we left the gloomy school-room +for the fields. It was a regular holiday. The boys disputed for the +honour of carrying the stakes, divided into bundles of three; and more +than one shoulder, as we walked through the town, felt the reflected +glory of those erudite rods. I myself--why conceal the fact?--was not +without a certain satisfaction as I piously carried that most delicate +and precious apparatus, the historic five-franc graphometer. The scene +of operations was an untilled, flinty plain, a harmas, as we call it in +the district. (Cf. "The Life of the Fly", by J. Henri Fabre, translated +by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapter 1.--Translator's Note.) Here, +no curtain of green hedges or shrubs prevented me from keeping an +eye upon my staff; here--an indispensable condition--I had not the +irresistible temptation of the unripe apricots to fear for my scholars. +The plain stretched far and wide, covered with nothing but flowering +thyme and rounded pebbles. There was ample scope for every imaginable +polygon; trapezes and triangles could be combined in all sorts of ways. +The inaccessible distances had ample elbow-room; and there was even +an old ruin, once a pigeon-house, that lent its perpendicular to the +graphometer's performances. + +Well, from the very first day, my attention was attracted by something +suspicious. If I sent one of the boys to plant a stake, I would see him +stop frequently on his way, bend down, stand up again, look about and +stoop once more, neglecting his straight line and his signals. Another, +who was told to pick up the arrows, would forget the iron pin and take +up a pebble instead; and a third deaf to the measurements of angles, +would crumble a clod of earth between his fingers. Most of them were +caught licking a bit of straw. The polygon came to a full stop, the +diagonals suffered. What could the mystery be? + +I enquired; and everything was explained. A born searcher and observer, +the scholar had long known what the master had not yet heard of, namely, +that there was a big black Bee who made clay nests on the pebbles in the +harmas. These nests contained honey; and my surveyors used to open +them and empty the cells with a straw. The honey, although rather +strong-flavoured, was most acceptable. I acquired a taste for it myself +and joined the nest-hunters, putting off the polygon till later. It +was thus that I first saw Reaumur's Mason-bee, knowing nothing of her +history and nothing of her historian. + +The magnificent Bee herself, with her dark-violet wings and black-velvet +raiment, her rustic edifices on the sun-blistered pebbles amid the +thyme, her honey, providing a diversion from the severities of the +compass and the square, all made a great impression on my mind; and I +wanted to know more than I had learnt from the schoolboys, which was +just how to rob the cells of their honey with a straw. As it happened, +my bookseller had a gorgeous work on insects for sale. It was called +"Histoire naturelle des animaux articules", by de Castelnau (Francis +Comte de Castelnau de la Porte (1812-1880), the naturalist +and traveller. Castelnau was born in London and died at +Melbourne.--Translator's Note.), E. Blanchard (Emile Blanchard (born +1820), author of various works on insects, Spiders, etc.--Translator's +Note.) and Lucas (Pierre Hippolyte Lucas (born 1815), author of works +on Moths and Butterflies, Crustaceans, etc.--Translator's Note.), and +boasted a multitude of most attractive illustrations; but the price of +it, the price of it! No matter: was not my splendid income supposed +to cover everything, food for the mind as well as food for the body? +Anything extra that I gave to the one I could save upon the other; a +method of balancing painfully familiar to those who look to science for +their livelihood. The purchase was effected. That day my professional +emoluments were severely strained: I devoted a month's salary to the +acquisition of the book. I had to resort to miracles of economy for some +time to come before making up the enormous deficit. + +The book was devoured; there is no other word for it. In it, I learnt +the name of my black Bee; I read for the first time various details of +the habits of insects; I found, surrounded in my eyes with a sort of +halo, the revered names of Reaumur, Huber (Francois Huber (1750-1831), +the Swiss naturalist, author of "Nouvelles observations sur les +abeilles." He early became blind from excessive study and conducted +his scientific work thereafter with the aid of his wife.--Translator's +Note.) and Leon Dufour (Jean Marie Leon Dufour (1780-1865), an +army surgeon who served with distinction in several campaigns, and +subsequently practised as a doctor in the Landes, where he attained +great eminence as a naturalist. Fabre often refers to him as the +Wizard of the Landes. Cf. "The Life of the Spider", by J. Henri Fabre, +translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapter 1; and "The Life of +the Fly": chapter 1.--Translator's Note.); and, while I turned over the +pages for the hundredth time, a voice within me seemed to whisper: + +'You also shall be of their company!' + +Ah, fond illusions, what has come of you? (The present essay is one of +the earliest in the "Souvenirs Entomologiques."--Translator's Note.) + +But let us banish these recollections, at once sweet and sad, and speak +of the doings of our black Bee. Chalicodoma, meaning a house of pebbles, +concrete or mortar, would be a most satisfactory title, were it not that +it has an odd sound to any one unfamiliar with Greek. The name is given +to Bees who build their cells with materials similar to those which we +employ for our own dwellings. The work of these insects is masonry; only +it is turned out by a rustic mason more used to hard clay than to hewn +stone. Reaumur, who knew nothing of scientific classification--a fact +which makes many of his papers very difficult to understand--named the +worker after her work and called our builders in dried clay Mason-bees, +which describes them exactly. + +We have two of them in our district: the Chalicodoma of the Walls +(Chalicodoma muraria), whose history Reaumur gives us in a masterly +fashion; and the Sicilian Chalicodoma (C. sicula) (For reasons that will +become apparent after the reader has learnt their habits, the author +also speaks of the Mason-bee of the Walls and the Sicilian Mason-bee +as the Mason-bee of the Pebbles and the Mason-bee of the Sheds +respectively. Cf. Chapter 4 footnote.--Translator's Note.), who is not +peculiar to the land of Etna, as her name might suggest, but is also +found in Greece, in Algeria and in the south of France, particularly in +the department of Vaucluse, where she is one of the commonest Bees to +be seen in the month of May. In the first species the two sexes are so +unlike in colouring that a novice, surprised at observing them come out +of the same nest, would at first take them for strangers to each other. +The female is of a splendid velvety black, with dark-violet wings. In +the male, the black velvet is replaced by a rather bright brick-red +fleece. The second species, which is much smaller, does not show this +contrast of colour: the two sexes wear the same costume, a general +mixture of brown, red and grey, while the tips of the wings, washed with +violet on a bronzed ground, recall, but only faintly, the rich purple of +the first species. Both begin their labours at the same period, in the +early part of May. + +As Reaumur tells us, the Chalicodoma of the Walls in the northern +provinces selects a wall directly facing the sun and one not covered +with plaster, which might come off and imperil the future of the cells. +She confides her buildings only to solid foundations, such as bare +stones. I find her equally prudent in the south; but, for some reason +which I do not know, she here generally prefers some other base to the +stone of a wall. A rounded pebble, often hardly larger than one's fist, +one of those cobbles with which the waters of the glacial period covered +the terraces of the Rhone Valley, forms the most popular support. +The extreme abundance of these sites might easily influence the Bee's +choice: all our less elevated uplands, all our arid, thyme-clad grounds +are nothing but water-worn stones cemented with red earth. In the +valleys, the Chalicodoma has also the pebbles of the mountain-streams +at her disposal. Near Orange, for instance, her favourite spots are the +alluvia of the Aygues, with their carpets of smooth pebbles no longer +visited by the waters. Lastly, if a cobble be wanting, the Mason-bee +will establish her nest on any sort of stone, on a mile-stone or a +boundary-wall. + +The Sicilian Chalicodoma has an even greater variety of choice. Her most +cherished site is the lower surface of the projecting tiles of a roof. +There is not a cottage in the fields, however small, but shelters +her nests under the eaves. Here, each spring, she settles in populous +colonies, whose masonry, handed down from one generation to the next and +enlarged year by year, ends by covering considerable surfaces. I have +seen some of these nests, under the tiles of a shed, spreading over an +area of five or six square yards. When the colony was hard at work, the +busy, buzzing crowd was enough to make one giddy. The under side of a +balcony also pleases the Mason-bee, as does the embrasure of a disused +window, especially if it is closed by a blind whose slats allow her +a free passage. But these are popular resorts, where hundreds and +thousands of workers labour, each for herself. If she be alone, which +happens pretty often, the Sicilian Mason-bee instals herself in the +first little nook handy, provided that it supplies a solid foundation +and warmth. As for the nature of this foundation, she does not seem to +mind. I have seen her build on the bare stone, on bricks, on the wood +of a shutter and even on the window-panes of a shed. One thing only +does not suit her: the plaster of our houses. She is as prudent as her +kinswoman and would fear the ruin of her cells, if she entrusted them to +a support which might possibly fall. + +Lastly, for reasons which I am still unable to explain to my own +satisfaction, the Sicilian Mason-bee often changes the position of her +building entirely, turning her heavy house of clay, which would seem +to require the solid support of a rock, into an aerial dwelling. A +hedge-shrub of any kind whatever--hawthorn, pomegranate, Christ's +thorn--provides her with a foundation, usually as high as a man's head. +The holm-oak and the elm give her a greater altitude. She chooses in the +bushy clump a twig no thicker than a straw; and on this narrow base she +constructs her edifice with the same mortar that she would employ under +a balcony or the ledge of a roof. When finished, the nest is a ball of +earth, bisected by the twig. It is the size of an apricot when the work +of a single insect and of one's fist if several have collaborated; but +this latter case is rare. + +Both Bees use the same materials: calcareous clay, mingled with a little +sand and kneaded into a paste with the mason's own saliva. Damp places, +which would facilitate the quarrying and reduce the expenditure of +saliva for mixing the mortar, are scorned by the Mason-bees, who refuse +fresh earth for building even as our own builders refuse plaster and +lime that have long lost their setting-properties. These materials, when +soaked with pure moisture, would not hold properly. What is wanted is a +dry dust, which greedily absorbs the disgorged saliva and forms with the +latter's albuminous elements a sort of readily-hardening Roman cement, +something in short resembling the cement which we obtain with quicklime +and white of egg. + +The mortar-quarry which the Sicilian Mason-bee prefers to work is a +frequented highway, whose metal of chalky flints, crushed by the passing +wheels, has become a smooth surface, like a continuous flagstone. +Whether settling on a twig in a hedge or fixing her abode under the +eaves of some rural dwelling, she always goes for her building-materials +to the nearest path or road, without allowing herself to be distracted +from her business by the constant traffic of people and cattle. You +should see the active Bee at work when the road is dazzling white +under the rays of a hot sun. Between the adjoining farm, which is the +building-yard, and the road, in which the mortar is prepared, we hear +the deep hum of the Bees perpetually crossing one another as they go +to and fro. The air seems traversed by incessant trails of smoke, so +straight and rapid is the worker's flight. Those on the way to the nest +carry tiny pellets of mortar, the size of small shot; those who return +at once settle on the driest and hardest spots. Their whole body +aquiver, they scrape with the tips of their mandibles and rake with +their front tarsi to extract atoms of earth and grains of sand, which, +rolled between their teeth, become impregnated with saliva and form +a solid mass. The work is pursued so vigorously that the worker lets +herself be crushed under the feet of the passers-by rather than abandon +her task. + +On the other hand, the Mason-bee of the Walls, who seeks solitude, +far from human habitations, rarely shows herself on the beaten paths, +perhaps because these are too far from the places where she builds. So +long as she can find dry earth, rich in small gravel, near the pebble +chosen as the site of her nest, that is all she asks. + +The Bee may either build an entirely new nest on a site as yet +unoccupied, or she may use the cells of an old nest, after repairing +them. Let us consider the former case first. After selecting her pebble, +the Mason-bee of the Walls arrives with a little ball of mortar in her +mandibles and lays it in a circular pad on the surface of the stone. +The fore-legs and above all the mandibles, which are the mason's chief +tools, work the material, which is kept plastic by the salivary fluid as +this is gradually disgorged. In order to consolidate the clay, angular +bits of gravel, the size of a lentil, are inserted separately, but only +on the outside, in the as yet soft mass. This is the foundation of the +structure. Fresh layers follow, until the cell has attained the desired +height of two or three centimetres. (Three-quarters of an inch to one +inch.--Translator's Note.) + +Man's masonry is formed of stones laid one above the other and cemented +together with lime. The Chalicodoma's work can bear comparison with +ours. To economise labour and mortar, the Bee employs coarse materials, +big pieces of gravel, which to her represent hewn stones. She chooses +them carefully one by one, picks out the hardest bits, generally with +corners which, fitting one into the other, give mutual support and +contribute to the solidity of the whole. Layers of mortar, sparingly +applied, hold them together. The outside of the cell thus assumes +the appearance of a piece of rustic architecture, in which the stones +project with their natural irregularities; but the inside, which +requires a more even surface in order not to hurt the larva's tender +skin, is covered with a coat of pure mortar. This inner whitewash, +however, is put on without any attempt at art, indeed one might say +that it is ladled on in great splashes; and the grub takes care, after +finishing its mess of honey, to make itself a cocoon and hang the rude +walls of its abode with silk. On the other hand, the Anthophorae and +the Halicti, two species of Wild Bees whose grubs weave no cocoon, +delicately glaze the inside of their earthen cells and give them the +gloss of polished ivory. + +The structure, whose axis is nearly always vertical and whose orifice +faces upwards so as not to let the honey escape, varies a little +in shape according to the supporting base. When set on a horizontal +surface, it rises like a little oval tower; when fixed against an +upright or slanting surface, it resembles the half of a thimble divided +from top to bottom. In this case, the support itself, the pebble, +completes the outer wall. + +When the cell is finished, the Bee at once sets to work to victual it. +The flowers round about, especially those of the yellow broom (Genista +scoparia), which in May deck the pebbly borders of the mountain streams +with gold, supply her with sugary liquid and pollen. She comes with her +crop swollen with honey and her belly yellowed underneath with pollen +dust. She dives head first into the cell; and for a few moments you see +some spasmodic jerks which show that she is disgorging the honey-syrup. +After emptying her crop, she comes out of the cell, only to go in again +at once, but this time backwards. The Bee now brushes the lower side +of her abdomen with her two hind-legs and rids herself of her load of +pollen. Once more she comes out and once more goes in head first. It is +a question of stirring the materials, with her mandibles for a spoon, +and making the whole into a homogeneous mixture. This mixing-operation +is not repeated after every journey: it takes place only at long +intervals, when a considerable quantity of material has been +accumulated. + +The victualling is complete when the cell is half full. An egg must now +be laid on the top of the paste and the house must be closed. All this +is done without delay. The cover consists of a lid of pure mortar, which +the Bee builds by degrees, working from the circumference to the centre. +Two days at most appeared to me to be enough for everything, provided +that no bad weather--rain or merely clouds--came to interrupt +the labour. Then a second cell is built, backing on the first and +provisioned in the same manner. A third, a fourth, and so on follow, +each supplied with honey and an egg and closed before the foundations +of the next are laid. Each task begun is continued until it is quite +finished; the Bee never commences a new cell until the four processes +needed for the construction of its predecessor are completed: the +building, the victualling, the laying of the egg and the closing of the +cell. + +As the Mason-bee of the Walls always works by herself on the pebble +which she has chosen and even shows herself very jealous of her site +when her neighbours alight upon it, the number of cells set back to back +upon one pebble is not large, usually varying between six and ten. +Do some eight grubs represent the Bee's whole family? Or does she +afterwards go and establish a more numerous progeny on other boulders? +The surface of the same stone is spacious enough to provide a support +for further cells if the number of eggs called for them; the Bee could +build there very comfortably, without hunting for another site, +without leaving the pebble to which she is attached by habit and long +acquaintance. It seems to me therefore, exceedingly probable that the +family is a small one and that it is all installed on the one stone, at +any rate when the Mason-bee is building a new home. + +The six to ten cells composing the cluster are certainly a solid +dwelling, with their rustic gravel covering; but the thickness of their +walls and lids, two millimetres (.078 inch--Translator's Note.) at most, +seems hardly sufficient to protect the grubs against the inclemencies +of the weather. Set on its pebble in the open air, without any sort of +shelter, the nest will have to undergo the heat of summer, which will +turn each cell into a stifling furnace, followed by the autumn rains, +which will slowly wear away the stonework, and by the winter frosts, +which will crumble what the rains have respected. However hard the +cement may be, can it possibly resist all these agents of destruction? +And, even if it does resist, will not the grubs, sheltered by too thin +a wall, have to suffer from excess of heat in summer and of cold in +winter? + +Without arguing all this out, the Bee nevertheless acts wisely. When all +the cells are finished, she builds a thick cover over the group, formed +of a material, impermeable to water and a bad conductor of heat, which +acts as a protection at the same time against damp, heat and cold. This +material is the usual mortar, made of earth mixed with saliva, but on +this occasion with no small stones in it. The Bee applies it pellet +by pellet, trowelful by trowelful, to the depth of a centimetre (.39 +inch--Translator's Note.) over the cluster of cells, which disappear +entirely under the clay covering. When this is done, the nest has the +shape of a rough dome, equal in size to half an orange. One would +take it for a round lump of mud which had been thrown and half crushed +against a stone and had then dried where it was. Nothing outside betrays +the contents, no semblance of cells, no semblance of work. To the +inexperienced eye, it is a chance splash of mud and nothing more. + +This outer covering dries as quickly as do our hydraulic cements; and +the nest is now almost as hard as a stone. It takes a knife with a +strong blade to break open the edifice. And I would add, in conclusion, +that, under its final form, the nest in no way recalls the original +work, so much so that one would imagine the cells of the start, those +elegant turrets covered with stucco-work, and the dome of the finish, +looking like a mere lump of mud, to be the product of two different +species. But scrape away the crust of cement and we shall easily +recognize the cells below and their layers of tiny pebbles. + +Instead of building a brand-new nest, on a hitherto unoccupied boulder, +the Mason-bee of the Walls is always glad to make use of the old nests +which have lasted through the year without suffering any damage worth +mentioning. The mortar dome has remained very much what it was at the +beginning, thanks to the solidity of the masonry, only it is perforated +with a number of round holes, corresponding with the chambers, the cells +inhabited by past generations of larvae. Dwellings such as these, which +need only a little repair to put them in good condition, save a great +deal of time and trouble; and the Mason-bees look out for them and do +not decide to build new nests except when the old ones are wanting. + +From one and the same dome there issue several inhabitants, brothers and +sisters, ruddy males and black females, all the offspring of the same +Bee. The males lead a careless existence, know nothing of work and +do not return to the clay houses except for a brief moment to woo the +ladies; nor do they reck of the deserted cabin. What they want is the +nectar in the flower-cups, not mortar to mix between their mandibles. +There remain the young mothers, who alone are charged with the future +of the family. To which of them will the inheritance of the old nest +revert? As sisters, they have equal rights to it: so our code would +decide, since the day when it shook itself free of the old savage +right of primogeniture. But the Mason-bees have not yet got beyond the +primitive basis of property, the right of the first occupant. + +When, therefore, the laying-time is at hand, the Bee takes possession of +the first vacant nest that suits her and settles there; and woe to any +sister or neighbour who shall henceforth dare to contest her ownership. +Hot pursuits and fierce blows will soon put the newcomer to flight. Of +the various cells that yawn like so many wells around the dome, only one +is needed at the moment; but the Bee rightly calculates that the others +will be useful presently for the other eggs; and she watches them all +with jealous vigilance to drive away possible visitors. Indeed I do not +remember ever seeing two Masons working on the same pebble. + +The task is now very simple. The Bee examines the old cell to see what +parts require repairing. She tears off the strips of cocoon hanging from +the walls, removes the fragments of clay that fell from the ceiling when +pierced by the last inhabitant to make her exit, gives a coat of mortar +to the dilapidated parts, mends the opening a little; and that is all. +Next come the storing, the laying of the eggs and the closing of the +chamber. When all the cells, one after the other, are thus furnished, +the outer cover, the mortar dome, receives a few repairs if it needs +them; and the thing is done. + +The Sicilian Mason-bee prefers company to a solitary life and +establishes herself in her hundreds, very often in many thousands, under +the tiles of a shed or the edge of a roof. These do not constitute a +true society, with common interests to which all attend, but a mere +gathering, where each works for herself and is not concerned with the +rest, in short, a throng of workers recalling the swarm of a hive only +by their numbers and their eagerness. The mortar employed is the same as +that of the Mason-bee of the Walls, equally unyielding and waterproof, +but thinner and without pebbles. The old nests are used first. Every +free chamber is repaired, stocked and sealed up. But the old cells are +far from sufficient for the population, which increases rapidly from +year to year. Then, on the surface of the nest, whose chambers are +hidden under the old general mortar covering, new cells are built, +as the needs of the laying-time call for them. They are placed +horizontally, or nearly so, side by side, with no attempt at orderly +arrangement. Each architect has plenty of elbow-room and builds as and +where she pleases, on the one condition that she does not hamper her +neighbours' work; otherwise she can look out for rough handling from the +parties interested. The cells, therefore, accumulate at random in +this workyard where there is no organization. Their shape is that of a +thimble divided down the middle; and their walls are completed either by +the adjoining cells or by the surface of the old nest. Outside, they are +rough and display successive layers of knotted cords corresponding with +the different courses of mortar. Inside, the walls are flat without +being smooth; later on, the grub's cocoon will make up for any lack of +polish. + +Each cell, as built, is stocked and walled up immediately, as we have +seen with the Mason-bee of the Walls. This work goes on throughout the +best part of May. All the eggs are laid at last; and then the Bees, +without drawing distinctions between what does and what does not belong +to them, set to work in common on a general protection for the colony. +This is a thick coat of mortar, which fills up the gaps and covers all +the cells. In the end, the common nest presents the appearance of a wide +expanse of dry mud, with very irregular protuberances, thicker in the +middle, the original nucleus of the establishment, thinner at the edges, +where as yet there are only newly built cells, and varying greatly in +dimensions according to the number of workers and therefore to the age +of the nest first founded. Some of these nests are hardly larger than +one's hand, while others occupy the greater part of the projecting edge +of a roof and are measured by square yards. + +When working alone, which is not unusual, on the shutter of a disused +window, on a stone, or on a twig in some hedge, the Sicilian Chalicodoma +behaves in just the same way. For instance, should she settle on a twig, +the Bee begins by solidly cementing the base of her cell to the slight +foundation. Next, the building rises, taking the form of a little +upright turret. This first cell, when victualled and sealed, is followed +by another, having as its support, in addition to the twig, the cells +already built. From six to ten chambers are thus grouped side by side. +Lastly, one coat of mortar covers everything, including the twig itself, +which provides a firm mainstay for the whole. + + + +CHAPTER 2. EXPERIMENTS. + +As the nests of the Mason-bee of the Walls are erected on small-sized +pebbles, which can be easily carried wherever you like and moved about +from one place to another, without disturbing either the work of +the builder or the repose of the occupants of the cells, they lend +themselves readily to practical experiment, the only method that can +throw a little light on the nature of instinct. To study the insect's +mental faculties to any purpose, it is not enough for the observer to be +able to profit by some happy combination of circumstances: he must know +how to produce other combinations, vary them as much as possible and +test them by substitution and interchange. Lastly, to provide science +with a solid basis of facts, he must experiment. In this way, the +evidence of formal records will one day dispel the fantastic legends +with which our books are crowded: the Sacred Beetle (A Dung-beetle who +rolls the manure of cattle into balls for his own consumption and that +of his young. Cf. "Insect Life", by J.H. Fabre, translated by the author +of "Mademoiselle Mori": chapters 1 and 2; and "The Life and Love of the +Insect", by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: +chapters 1 to 4.--Translator's Note.) calling on his comrades to lend a +helping hand in dragging his pellet out of a rut; the Sphex (A species +of Hunting Wasp. Cf. "Insect Life": chapters 6 to 12.--Translator's +Note.) cutting up her Fly so as to be able to carry him despite +the obstacle of the wind; and all the other fallacies which are the +stock-in-trade of those who wish to see in the animal world what is not +really there. In this way, again, materials will be prepared which +will one day be worked up by the hand of a master and consign hasty and +unfounded theories to oblivion. + +Reaumur, as a rule, confines himself to stating facts as he sees them +in the normal course of events and does not try to probe deeper into the +insect's ingenuity by means of artificially produced conditions. In his +time, everything had yet to be done; and the harvest was so great that +the illustrious harvester went straight to what was most urgent, the +gathering of the crop, and left his successors to examine the grain and +the ear in detail. Nevertheless, in connection with the Chalicodoma of +the Walls, he mentions an experiment made by his friend, Duhamel. (Henri +Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700-1781), a distinguished writer on botany +and agriculture.--Translator's Note.) He tells us how a Mason-bee's nest +was enclosed in a glass funnel, the mouth of which was covered merely +with a bit of gauze. From it there issued three males, who, after +vanquishing mortar as hard as stone, either never thought of piercing +the flimsy gauze or else deemed the work beyond their strength. The +three Bees died under the funnel. Reaumur adds that insects generally +know only how to do what they have to do in the ordinary course of +nature. + +The experiment does not satisfy me, for two reasons: first, to ask +workers equipped with tools for cutting clay as hard as granite to cut +a piece of gauze does not strike me as a happy inspiration; you +cannot expect a navvy's pick-axe to do the same work as a dressmaker's +scissors. Secondly, the transparent glass prison seems to me ill-chosen. +As soon as the insect has made a passage through the thickness of its +earthen dome, it finds itself in broad daylight; and to it daylight +means the final deliverance, means liberty. It strikes against an +invisible obstacle, the glass; and to it glass is nothing at all and yet +an obstruction. On the far side, it sees free space, bathed in sunshine. +It wears itself out in efforts to fly there, unable to understand the +futile nature of its attempts against that strange barrier which +it cannot see. It perishes, at last, of exhaustion, without, in its +obstinacy, giving a glance at the gauze closing the conical chimney. The +experiment must be renewed under better conditions. + +The obstacle which I select is ordinary brown paper, stout enough +to keep the insect in the dark and thin enough not to offer serious +resistance to the prisoner's efforts. As there is a great difference, in +so far as the actual nature of the barrier is concerned, between a paper +partition and a clay ceiling, let us begin by enquiring if the Mason-bee +of the Walls knows how or rather is able to make her way through one +of these partitions. The mandibles are pickaxes suitable for breaking +through hard mortar: are they also scissors capable of cutting a thin +membrane? This is the point to look into first of all. + +In February, by which time the insect is in its perfect state, I take a +certain number of cocoons, without damaging them, from their cells and +insert them each in a separate stump of reed, closed at one end by the +natural wall of the node and open at the other. These pieces of reed +represent the cells of the nest. The cocoons are introduced with the +insect's head turned towards the opening. Lastly, my artificial cells +are closed in different ways. Some receive a stopper of kneaded clay, +which, when dry, will correspond in thickness and consistency with the +mortar ceiling of the natural nest. Others are plugged with a cylinder +of sorghum, at least a centimetre (.39 inch--Translator's Note.) thick; +and the remainder with a disk of brown paper solidly fastened by the +edge. All these bits of reed are placed side by side in a box, standing +upright, with the roof of my making at the top. The insects, therefore, +are in the exact position which they occupied in the nest. To open a +passage, they must do what they would have done without my interference, +they must break through the wall situated above their heads. I shelter +the whole under a wide bell-glass and wait for the month of May, the +period of the deliverance. + +The results far exceed my anticipations. The clay stopper, the work of +my fingers, is perforated with a round hole, differing in no wise from +that which the Mason-bee contrives through her native mortar dome. The +vegetable barrier, new to my prisoners, namely, the sorghum cylinder, +also opens with a neat orifice, which might have been the work of a +punch. Lastly, the brown-paper cover allows the Bee to make her exit +not by bursting through, by making a violent rent, but once more by a +clearly defined round hole. My Bees therefore are capable of a task for +which they were not born; to come out of their reed cells they do what +probably none of their race did before them; they perforate the wall of +sorghum-pith, they make a hole in the paper barrier, just as they would +have pierced their natural clay ceiling. When the moment comes to free +themselves, the nature of the impediment does not stop them, provided +that it be not beyond their strength; and henceforth the argument of +incapacity cannot be raised when a mere paper barrier is in question. + +In addition to the cells made out of bits of reed, I put under the +bell-glass, at the same time, two nests which are intact and still +resting on their pebbles. To one of them I have attached a sheet of +brown paper pressed close against the mortar dome. In order to come out, +the insect will have to pierce first the dome and then the paper, which +follows without any intervening space. Over the other, I have placed a +little brown paper cone, gummed to the pebble. There is here, therefore, +as in the first case, a double wall--a clay partition and a paper +partition--with this difference, that the two walls do not come +immediately after each other, but are separated by an empty space of +about a centimetre at the bottom, increasing as the cone rises. + +The results of these two experiments are quite different. The Bees +in the nest to which a sheet of paper was tightly stuck come out by +piercing the two enclosures, of which the outer wall, the paper wrapper, +is perforated with a very clean round hole, as we have already seen in +the reed cells closed with a lid of the same material. We thus become +aware, for the second time, that, when the Mason-bee is stopped by +a paper barrier, the reason is not her incapacity to overcome the +obstacle. On the other hand, the occupants of the nest covered with the +cone, after making their way through the earthen dome, finding the sheet +of paper at some distance, do not even try to perforate this obstacle, +which they would have conquered so easily had it been fastened to the +nest. They die under the cover without making any attempt to escape. +Even so did Reaumur's Bees perish in the glass funnel, where their +liberty depended only upon their cutting through a bit of gauze. + +This fact strikes me as rich in inferences. What! Here are sturdy +insects, to whom boring through granite is mere play, to whom a stopper +of soft wood and a paper partition are walls quite easy to perforate +despite the novelty of the material; and yet these vigorous +housebreakers allow themselves to perish stupidly in the prison of a +paper bag, which they could have torn open with one stroke of their +mandibles! They are capable of tearing it, but they do not dream of +doing so! There can be only one explanation of this suicidal inaction. +The insect is well-endowed with tools and instinctive faculties for +accomplishing the final act of its metamorphosis, namely, the act of +emerging from the cocoon and from the cell. Its mandibles provide it +with scissors, file, pick-axe and lever wherewith to cut, gnaw through +and demolish either its cocoon and its mortar enclosure or any other not +too obstinate barrier substituted for the natural covering of the nest. +Moreover--and this is an important proviso, except for which the outfit +would be useless--it has, I will not say the will to use those tools, +but a secret stimulus inviting it to employ them. When the hour for the +emergence arrives, this stimulus is aroused and the insect sets to work +to bore a passage. It little cares in this case whether the material to +be pierced be the natural mortar, sorghum-pith, or paper: the lid that +holds it imprisoned does not resist for long. Nor even does it care if +the obstacle be increased in thickness and a paper wall be added outside +the wall of clay: the two barriers, with no interval between them, form +but one to the Bee, who passes through them because the act of getting +out is still one act and one only. With the paper cone, whose wall is a +little way off, the conditions are changed, though the total thickness +of wall is really the same. Once outside its earthen abode, the insect +has done all that it was destined to do in order to release itself; to +move freely on the mortar dome represents to it the end of the release, +the end of the act of boring. Around the nest a new barrier appears, +the wall made by the paper bag; but, in order to pierce this, the insect +would have to repeat the act which it has just accomplished, the act +which it is not intended to perform more than once in its life; it +would, in short, have to make into a double act that which by nature is +a single one; and the insect cannot do this, for the sole reason that +it has not the wish to. The Mason-bee perishes for lack of the smallest +gleam of intelligence. And this is the singular intellect in which it +is the fashion nowadays to see a germ of human reason! The fashion will +pass and the facts remain, bringing us back to the good old notions of +the soul and its immortal destinies. + +Reaumur tells us how his friend Duhamel, having seized a Mason-bee with +a forceps when she had half entered the cell, head foremost, to fill +it with pollen-paste, carried her to a closet at some distance from the +spot where he captured her. The Bee got away from him in this closet +and flew out through the window. Duhamel made straight for the nest. The +Mason arrived almost as soon as he did and renewed her work. She only +seemed a little wilder, says the narrator, in conclusion. + +Why were you not here with me, revered master, on the banks of the +Aygues, which is a vast expanse of pebbles for three-fourths of the year +and a mighty torrent when it rains? I should have shown you something +infinitely better than the fugitive escaping from the forceps. You would +have witnessed--and in so doing, would have shared my surprise--not the +brief flight of the Mason who, carried to the nearest room, +releases herself and forthwith returns to her nest in that familiar +neighbourhood, but long journeys through unknown country. You would have +seen the Bee whom I carried to a great distance from her home, to quite +unfamiliar ground, find her way back with a geographical sense of which +the Swallow, the Martin and the Carrier-pigeon would not have +been ashamed; and you would have asked yourself, as I did, what +incomprehensible knowledge of the local map guides that mother seeking +her nest. + +To come to facts: it is a matter of repeating with the Mason-bee of the +Walls my former experiments with the Cerceris-wasps (Cf. "Insect Life": +chapter 19.--Translator's Note.), of carrying the insect, in the dark, +a long way from its nest, marking it and then leaving it to its own +resources. In case any one should wish to try the experiment for +himself, I make him a present of my manner of operation, which may save +him time at the outset. The insect intended for a long journey must +obviously be handled with certain precautions. There must be no forceps +employed, no pincers, which might maim a wing, strain it and weaken the +power of flight. While the Bee is in her cell, absorbed in her work, I +place a small glass test-tube over it. The Mason, when she flies +away, rushes into the tube, which enables me, without touching her, to +transfer her at once into a screw of paper. This I quickly close. A tin +box, an ordinary botanizing-case, serves to convey the prisoners, each +in her separate paper bag. + +The most delicate business, that of marking each captive before +setting her free, is left to be done on the spot selected for the +starting-point. I use finely-powdered chalk, steeped in a strong +solution of gum arabic. The mixture, applied to some part of the insect +with a straw, leaves a white patch, which soon dries and adheres to +the fleece. When a particular Mason-bee has to be marked so as to +distinguish her from another in short experiments, such as I shall +describe presently, I confine myself to touching the tip of the abdomen +with my straw while the insect is half in the cell, head downwards. The +slight touch is not noticed by the Bee, who continues her work quite +undisturbed; but the mark is not very deep and moreover it is in a +rather bad place for any prolonged experiment, for the Bee is constantly +brushing her belly to detach the pollen and is sure to rub it off sooner +or later. I therefore make another one, dropping the sticky chalk right +in the middle of the thorax, between the wings. + +It is hardly possible to wear gloves at this work: the fingers need all +their deftness to take up the restless Bee delicately and to overpower +her without rough pressure. It is easily seen that, though the job may +yield no other profit, you are at least sure of being stung. The sting +can be avoided with a little dexterity, but not always. You have to put +up with it. In any case, the Mason-bee's sting is far less painful than +that of the Hive-bee. The white spot is dropped on the thorax; the Mason +flies off; and the mark dries on the journey. + +I start with two Mason-bees of the Walls working at their nests on the +pebbles in the alluvia of the Aygues, not far from Serignan. I carry +them home with me to Orange, where I release them after marking them. +According to the ordnance-survey map, the distance is about two and a +half miles as the crow flies. The captives are set at liberty in the +evening, at a time when the Bees begin to leave off work for the day. +It is therefore probable that my two Bees will spend their night in the +neighbourhood. + +Next morning, I go to the nests. The weather is still too cool and the +works are suspended. When the dew has gone, the Masons begin work. I see +one, but without a white spot, bringing pollen to one of the nests +which had been occupied by the travellers whom I am expecting. She is +a stranger who, finding the cell whose owner I myself had exiled +untenanted, has installed herself there and made it her property, not +knowing that it is already the property of another. She has perhaps been +victualling it since yesterday evening. Close upon ten o'clock, when +the heat is at its full, the mistress of the house suddenly arrives: her +title-deeds as the original occupant are inscribed for me in undeniable +characters on her thorax white with chalk. Here is one of my travellers +back. + +Over waving corn, over fields all pink with sainfoin, she has covered +the two miles and a half; and here she is, back at the nest, after +foraging on the way, for the doughty creature arrives with her abdomen +yellow with pollen. To come home again from the verge of the horizon +is wonderful in itself; to come home with a well-filled pollen-brush is +superlative economy. A journey, even a forced journey, always becomes a +foraging-expedition. + +She finds the stranger in the nest: + +'What's this? I'll teach you!' + +And the owner falls furiously upon the intruder, who possibly was +meaning no harm. A hot chase in mid-air now takes place between the two +Masons. From time to time, they hover almost without movement, face to +face, with only a couple of inches separating them, and here, doubtless +measuring forces with their eyes, they buzz insults at each other. Then +they go back and alight on the nest in dispute, first one, then the +other. I expect to see them come to blows, to make them draw their +stings. But my hopes are disappointed: the duties of maternity speak +in too imperious a voice for them to risk their lives and wipe out +the insult in a mortal duel. The whole thing is confined to hostile +demonstrations and a few insignificant cuffs. + +Nevertheless, the real proprietress seems to derive double courage and +double strength from the feeling that she is in her rights. She takes up +a permanent position on the nest and receives the other, each time +that she ventures to approach, with an angry quiver of her wings, an +unmistakable sign of her righteous indignation. The stranger, at last +discouraged, retires from the field. Forthwith the Mason resumes her +work, as actively as though she had not just undergone the hardships of +a long journey. + +One more word on these quarrels about property. It is not unusual, +when one Mason-bee is away on an expedition, for another, some homeless +vagabond, to call at the nest, take a fancy to it and set to work on it, +sometimes at the same cell, sometimes at the next, if there are +several vacant, which is generally the case in the old nests. The first +occupier, on her return, never fails to drive away the intruder, who +always ends by being turned out, so keen and invincible is the mistress' +sense of ownership. Reversing the savage Prussian maxim, 'Might is +right,' among the Mason-bees right is might, for there is no other +explanation of the invariable retreat of the usurper, whose strength is +not a whit inferior to that of the real owner. If she is less bold, this +is because she has not the tremendous moral support of knowing herself +in the right, which makes itself respected, among equals, even in the +brute creation. + +The second of my travellers does not reappear, either on the day when +the first arrived or on the following days. I decide upon another +experiment, on this occasion with five subjects. The starting-place is +the same; and the place of arrival, the distance, the time of day, all +remain unchanged. Of the five with whom I experiment, I find three at +their nests next day; the two others are missing. + +It is therefore fully established that the Mason-bee of the Walls, +carried to a distance of two and a half miles and released at a place +which she has certainly never seen before, is able to return to the +nest. But why do first one out of two and then two out of five fail +to join their fellows? What one can do cannot another do? Is there a +difference in the faculty that guides them over unknown ground? Or is it +not rather a difference in flying-power? I remember that my Bees did not +all start off with the same vigour. Some were hardly out of my fingers +before they darted furiously into the air, where I at once lost sight +of them, whereas the others came dropping down a few yards away from me, +after a short flight. The latter, it seems certain, must have suffered +on the journey, perhaps from the heat concentrated in the furnace of my +box. Or I may have hurt the articulation of the wings in marking them, +an operation difficult to perform when you are guarding against +stings. These are maimed, feeble creatures, who will linger in the +sainfoin-fields close by, and not the powerful aviators required by the +journey. + +The experiment must be tried again, taking count only of the Bees +who start off straight from between my fingers with a clean, vigorous +flight. The waverers, the laggards who stop almost at once on some +bush shall be left out of the reckoning. Moreover, I will do my best to +estimate the time taken in returning to the nest. For an experiment of +this kind, I need plenty of subjects, as the weak and the maimed, of +whom there may be many, are to be disregarded. The Mason-bee of the +Walls is unable to supply me with the requisite number: there are not +enough of her; and I am anxious not to interfere too much with the +little Aygues-side colony, for whom I have other experiments in view. +Fortunately, I have at my own place, under the eaves of a shed, a +magnificent nest of Chalicodoma sicula in full activity. I can draw to +whatever extent I please on the populous city. The insect is small, less +than half the size of C. muraria, but no matter: it will deserve all the +more credit if it can traverse the two miles and a half in store for it +and find its way back to the nest. I take forty Bees, isolating them, as +usual, in screws of paper. + +In order to reach the nest, I place a ladder against the wall: it will +be used by my daughter Aglae and will enable her to mark the exact +moment of the return of the first Bee. I set the clock on the +mantelpiece and my watch at the same time, so that we may compare the +instant of departure and of arrival. Things being thus arranged, I carry +off my forty captives and go to the identical spot where C. muraria +works, in the pebbly bed of the Aygues. The trip will have a double +object: to observe Reaumur's Mason and to set the Sicilian Mason at +liberty. The latter, therefore, will also have two and a half miles to +travel home. + +At last my prisoners are released, all of them being first marked with a +big white dot in the middle of the thorax. + +You do not come off scot-free when handling one after the other forty +wrathful Bees, who promptly unsheathe and brandish their poisoned +stings. The stab is but too often given before the mark is made. My +smarting fingers make movements of self-defence which my will is not +always able to control. I take hold with greater precaution for myself +than for the insect; I sometimes squeeze harder than I ought to if I am +to spare my travellers. To experiment so as to lift, if possible, a +tiny corner of the veil of truth is a fine and noble thing, a mighty +stimulant in the face of danger; but still one may be excused for +displaying some impatience when it is a matter of receiving forty stings +in one's fingers at one short sitting. If any man should reproach me for +being too careless with my thumbs, I would suggest that he should have a +try: he can then judge for himself the pleasures of the situation. + +To cut a long story short, either through the fatigue of the journey, +or through my fingers pressing too hard and perhaps injuring some +articulations, only twenty out of my forty Bees start with a bold, +vigorous flight. The others, unable to keep their balance, wander about +on the nearest bit of grass or remain on the osier-shoots on which I +have placed them, refusing to fly even when I tickle them with a straw. +These weaklings, these cripples, these incapables injured by my fingers +must be struck off my list. Those who started with an unhesitating +flight number about twenty. That is ample. + +At the actual moment of departure, there is nothing definite about the +direction taken, none of that straight flight to the nest which the +Cerceris-wasps once showed me in similar circumstances. As soon as +they are liberated, the Mason-bees flee as though scared, some in one +direction, some in exactly the opposite direction. Nevertheless, as far +as their impetuous flight allows, I seem to perceive a quick return on +the part of those Bees who have started flying towards a point opposite +to their home; and the majority appear to me to be making for those +blue distances where their nest lies. I leave this question with certain +doubts which are inevitable in the case of insects which I cannot follow +with my eyes for more than twenty yards. + +Hitherto, the operation has been favoured by calm weather; but now +things become complicated. The heat is stifling and the sky becomes +stormy. A stiff breeze springs up, blowing from the south, the very +direction which my Bees must take to return to the nest. Can they +overcome this opposing current and cleave the aerial torrent with their +wings? If they try, they will have to fly close to the ground, as I +now see the Bees do who continue their foraging; but soaring to lofty +regions, whence they can obtain a clear view of the country, is, so +it seems to me, prohibited. I am therefore very apprehensive as to the +success of my experiment when I return to Orange, after first trying to +steal some fresh secret from the Aygues Mason-bee of the Pebbles. + +I have scarcely reached the house before Aglae greets me, her cheeks +flushed with excitement: + +'Two!' she cries. 'Two came back at twenty minutes to three, with a load +of pollen under their bellies!' + +A friend of mine had appeared upon the scene, a grave man of the law, +who on hearing what was happening, had neglected code and stamped +paper and insisted upon also being present at the arrival of my +Carrier-pigeons. The result interested him more than his case about a +party-wall. Under a tropical sun, in a furnace heat reflected from the +wall of the shed, every five minutes he climbed the ladder bare-headed, +with no other protection against sunstroke than his thatch of thick, +grey locks. Instead of the one observer whom I had posted, I found two +good pairs of eyes watching the Bees' return. + +I had released my insects at about two o'clock; and the first arrivals +returned to the nest at twenty minutes to three. They had therefore +taken less than three-quarters of an hour to cover the two miles and a +half, a very striking result, especially when we remember that the Bees +did some foraging on the road, as was proved by the yellow pollen on +their bellies, and that, on the other hand, the travellers' flight must +have been hindered by the wind blowing against them. Three more came +home before my eyes, each with her load of pollen, an outward and +visible sign of the work done on the journey. As it was growing late, +our observations had to cease. When the sun goes down, the Mason-bees +leave the nest and take refuge somewhere or other, perhaps under the +tiles of the roofs, or in little corners of the walls. I could not +reckon on the arrival of the others before work was resumed, in the full +sunshine. + +Next day, when the sun recalled the scattered workers to the nest, I +took a fresh census of Bees with a white spot on the thorax. My success +exceeded all my hopes: I counted fifteen, fifteen of the transported +prisoners of the day before, storing their cells or building as though +nothing out of the way had happened. The weather had become more +and more threatening; and now the storm burst and was followed by a +succession of rainy days which prevented me from continuing. + +The experiment suffices as it stands. Of some twenty Bees who had seemed +fit to make the long journey when I released them, fifteen at least had +returned: two within the first hour, three in the course of the evening +and the rest next morning. They had returned in spite of having the +wind against them and--a graver difficulty still--in spite of being +unacquainted with the locality to which I had transported them. There +is, in fact, no doubt that they were setting eyes for the first time +on those osier-beds of the Aygues which I had selected as the +starting-point. Never would they have travelled so far afield of their +own accord, for everything that they want for building and victualling +under the roof of my shed is within easy reach. The path at the foot of +the wall supplies the mortar; the flowery meadows surrounding my house +furnish nectar and pollen. Economical of their time as they are, they +do not go flying two miles and a half in search of what abounds at a +few yards from the nest. Besides, I see them daily taking their +building-materials from the path and gathering their harvest on the +wild-flowers, especially on the meadow sage. To all appearance, their +expeditions do not cover more than a radius of a hundred yards or so. +Then how did my exiles return? What guided them? It was certainly not +memory, but some special faculty which we must content ourselves with +recognizing by its astonishing effects without pretending to explain it, +so greatly does it transcend our own psychology. + + + +CHAPTER 3. EXCHANGING THE NESTS. + +Let us continue our series of tests with the Mason-bee of the Walls. +Thanks to its position on a pebble which we can move at will, the nest +of this Bee lends itself to most interesting experiments. Here is the +first: I shift a nest from its place, that is to say, I carry the pebble +which serves as its support to a spot two yards away. As the edifice +and its base form but one, the removal is performed without the smallest +disturbance of the cells. I lay the boulder in an exposed place where it +is well in view, as it was on its original site. The Bee returning from +her harvest cannot fail to see it. + +In a few minutes, the owner arrives and goes straight to where the nest +stood. She hovers gracefully over the vacant site, examines and alights +upon the exact spot where the stone used to lie. Here she walks about +for a long time, making persistent searches; then the Bee takes wing and +flies away to some distance. Her absence is of short duration. Here she +is back again. The search is resumed, walking and flying, and always on +the site which the nest occupied at first. A fresh fit of exasperation, +that is to say, an abrupt flight across the osier-bed, is followed by a +fresh return and a renewal of the vain search, always upon the mark left +by the shifted pebble. These sudden departures, these prompt returns, +these persevering inspections of the deserted spot continue for a long +time, a very long time, before the Mason is convinced that her nest is +gone. She has certainly seen it, has seen it over and over again in its +new position, for sometimes she has flown only a few inches above it; +but she takes no notice of it. To her, it is not her nest, but the +property of another Bee. + +Often the experiment ends without so much as a single visit to the +boulder which I have moved two or three yards away: the Bee goes off and +does not return. If the distance be less, a yard for instance, the +Mason sooner or later alights on the stone which supports her abode. She +inspects the cell which she was building or provisioning a little while +before, repeatedly dips her head into it, examines the surface of the +pebble step by step and, after long hesitations, goes and resumes her +search on the site where the home ought to be. The nest that is no +longer in its natural place is definitely abandoned, even though it be +but a yard away from the original spot. Vainly does the Bee settle on +it time after time: she cannot recognize it as hers. I was convinced of +this on finding it, several days after the experiment, in just the same +condition as when I moved it. The open cell half-filled with honey was +still open and was surrendering its contents to the pillaging Ants; the +cell that was building had remained unfinished, with not a single layer +added to it. The Bee, obviously, may have returned to it; but she had +not resumed work upon it. The transplanted dwelling was abandoned for +good and all. + +I will not deduce the strange paradox that the Mason-bee, though capable +of finding her nest from the verge of the horizon, is incapable of +finding it at a yard's distance: I interpret the occurrence as meaning +something quite different. The proper inference appears to me to be +this: the Bee retains a rooted impression of the site occupied by the +nest and returns to it with unwearying persistence even when the nest is +gone. But she has only a very vague notion of the nest itself. She does +not recognize the masonry which she herself has erected and kneaded with +her saliva; she does not know the pollen-paste which she herself has +stored. In vain she inspects her cell, her own handiwork; she abandons +it, refusing to acknowledge it as hers, once the spot whereon the pebble +rests is changed. + +Insect memory, it must be confessed, is a strange one, displaying such +lucidity in its general acquaintance with locality and such limitations +in its knowledge of the dwelling. I feel inclined to call it +topographical instinct: it grasps the map of the country and not the +beloved nest, the home itself. The Bembex-wasps (Cf. "Insect Life": +chapters 16 to 19.--Translator's Note.) have already led us to a like +conclusion. When the nest is laid open, these Wasps become wholly +indifferent to the family, to the grub writhing in agony in the sun. +They do not recognize it. What they do recognize, what they seek and +find with marvellous precision, is the site of the entrance-door of +which nothing at all is left, not even the threshold. + +If any doubts remained as to the incapacity of the Mason-bee of the +Walls to know her nest other than by the place which the pebble occupies +on the ground, here is something to remove them: for the nest of one +Mason-bee, I substitute that of another, resembling it as closely as +possible in respect to both masonry and storage. This exchange and +those of which I shall speak presently are of course made in the owner's +absence. The Bee settles without hesitation in this nest which is not +hers, but which stands where the other did. If she was building, I offer +her a cell in process of building. She continues the masonry with the +same care and the same zeal as if the work already done were her +own work. If she was fetching honey and pollen, I offer her a +partly-provisioned cell. She continues her journeys, with honey in her +crop and pollen under her belly, to finish filling another's warehouse. +The Bee, therefore, does not suspect the exchange; she does not +distinguish between what is her property and what is not; she imagines +that she is still working at the cell which is really hers. + +After leaving her for a time in possession of the strange nest, I give +her back her own. This fresh change passes unperceived by the Bee: the +work is continued in the cell restored to her at the point which it had +reached in the substituted cell. I once more replace it by the strange +nest; and again the insect persists in continuing its labour. By thus +constantly interchanging the strange nest and the proper nest, without +altering the actual site, I thoroughly convinced myself of the Bee's +inability to discriminate between what is her work and what is not. +Whether the cell belong to her or to another, she labours at it with +equal zest, so long as the basis of the edifice, the pebble, continues +to occupy its original position. + +The experiment receives an added interest if we employ two neighbouring +nests the work on which is about equally advanced. I move each to where +the other stood. They are not much more than thirty inches a part. In +spite of their being so near to each other that it is quite possible for +the insects to see both homes at once and choose between them, each Bee, +on arriving, settles immediately on the substituted nest and continues +her work there. Change the two nests as often as you please and you +shall see the two Mason-bees keep to the site which they selected and +labour in turn now at their own cell and now at the other's. + +One might think that the cause of this confusion lies in a close +resemblance between the two nests, for at the start, little expecting +the results which I was to obtain, I used to choose the nests which I +interchanged as much alike as possible, for fear of disheartening the +Bees. I need not have taken this precaution: I was giving the insect +credit for a perspicacity which it does not possess. Indeed, I now +take two nests which are extremely unlike each other, the only point of +resemblance being that, in each case, the toiler finds a cell in which +she can continue the work which she is actually doing. The first is an +old nest whose dome is perforated with eight holes, the apertures of the +cells of the previous generation. One of these cells has been repaired; +and the Bee is busy storing it. The second is a nest of recent +construction, which has not received its mortar dome and consists of +a single cell with its stucco covering. Here too the insect is busy +hoarding pollen-paste. No two nests could present greater differences: +one with its eight empty chambers and its spreading clay dome; the other +with its single bare cell, at most the size of an acorn. + +Well, the two Mason-bees do not hesitate long in front of these +exchanged nests, not three feet away from each other. Each makes for the +site of her late home. One, the original owner of the old nest, finds +nothing but a solitary cell. She rapidly inspects the pebble and, +without further formalities, first plunges her head into the strange +cell, to disgorge honey, and then her abdomen, to deposit pollen. And +this is not an action due to the imperative need of ridding herself as +quickly as possible, no matter where, of an irksome load, for the Bee +flies off and soon comes back again with a fresh supply of provender, +which she stores away carefully. This carrying of provisions to +another's larder is repeated as often as I permit it. The other Bee, +finding instead of her one cell a roomy structure consisting of eight +apartments, is at first not a little embarrassed. Which of the eight +cells is the right one? In which is the heap of paste on which she had +begun? The Bee therefore visits the chambers one by one, dives right +down to the bottom and ends by finding what she seeks, that is to say, +what was in her nest when she started on her last journey, the nucleus +of a store of food. Thenceforward she behaves like her neighbour and +goes on carrying honey and pollen to the warehouse which is not of her +constructing. + +Restore the nests to their original places, exchange them yet once +again and both Bees, after a short hesitation which the great difference +between the two nests is enough to explain, will pursue the work in the +cell of her own making and in the strange cell alternately. At last the +egg is laid and the sanctuary closed, no matter what nest happens to be +occupied at the moment when the provisioning reaches completion. These +incidents are sufficient to show why I hesitate to give the name of +memory to the singular faculty that brings the insect back to her nest +with such unerring precision and yet does not allow her to distinguish +her work from some one else's, however great the difference may be. + +We will now experiment with Chalicodoma muraria from another +psychological point of view. Here is a Mason-bee building; she is at +work on the first course of her cell. I give her in exchange a cell not +only finished as a structure, but also filled nearly to the top with +honey. I have just stolen it from its owner, who would not have been +long before laying her egg in it. What will the Mason do in the presence +of this munificent gift, which saves her the trouble of building and +harvesting? She will leave the mortar no doubt, finish storing the +Bee-bread, lay her egg and seal up. A mistake, an utter mistake: +our logic is not the logic of the insect, which obeys an inevitable, +unconscious prompting. It has no choice as to what it shall do; it +cannot discriminate between what is and what is not advisable; it +glides, as it were, down an irresistible slope prepared beforehand to +bring it to a definite end. This is what the facts that still remain to +be stated proclaim with no uncertain voice. + +The Bee who was building and to whom I offer a cell ready-built and full +of honey does not lay aside her mortar for that. She was doing mason's +work; and, once on that tack, guided by the unconscious impulse, she +has to keep masoning, even though her labour be useless, superfluous +and opposed to her interests. The cell which I give her is certainly +perfect, looked upon as a building, in the opinion of the master-builder +herself, since the Bee from whom I took it was completing the provision +of honey. To touch it up, especially to add to it, is useless and, what +is more, absurd. No matter: the Bee who was masoning will mason. On the +aperture of the honey-store she lays a first course of mortar, followed +by another and yet another, until at last the cell is a third taller +then the regulation height. The masonry-task is now done, not as +perfectly, it is true, as if the Bee had gone on with the cell whose +foundations she was laying at the moment when I exchanged the nests, but +still to an extent which is more than enough to prove the overpowering +impulse which the builder obeys. Next comes the victualling, which is +also cut short, lest the honey-store swelled by the joint contributions +of the two Bees should overflow. Thus the Mason-bee who is beginning +to build and to whom we give a complete cell, a cell filled with honey, +makes no change in the order of her work: she builds first and then +victuals. Only she shortens her work, her instinct warning her that the +height of the cell and the quantity of honey are beginning to assume +extravagant proportions. + +The converse is equally conclusive. To a Mason-bee engaged in +victualling I give a nest with a cell only just begun and not at all fit +to receive the paste. This cell, with its last course still wet with its +builder's saliva, may or may not be accompanied by other cells recently +closed up, each with its honey and its egg. The Bee, finding this in the +place of her half-filled honey-store, is greatly perplexed what to do +when she comes with her harvest to this unfinished, shallow cup, in +which there is no place to put the honey. She inspects it, measures +it with her eyes, tries it with her antennae and recognizes its +insufficient capacity. She hesitates for a long time, goes away, comes +back, flies away again and soon returns, eager to deposit her treasure. +The insect's embarrassment is most evident; and I cannot help saying, +inwardly: + +'Get some mortar, get some mortar and finish making the warehouse. It +will only take you a few moments; and you will have a cupboard of the +right depth.' + +The Bee thinks differently: she was storing her cell and she must go on +storing, come what may. Never will she bring herself to lay aside the +pollen-brush for the trowel; never will she suspend the foraging which +is occupying her at this moment to begin the work of construction which +is not yet due. She will rather go in search of a strange cell, in the +desired condition, and slip in there to deposit her honey, at the risk +of meeting with a warm reception from the irate owner. She goes off, +in fact, to try her luck. I wish her success, being myself the cause +of this desperate act. My curiosity has turned an honest worker into a +robber. + +Things may take a still more serious turn, so invincible, so imperious +is the desire to have the booty stored in a safe place without delay. +The uncompleted cell which the Bee refuses to accept instead of her +own finished warehouse, half-filled with honey, is often, as I said, +accompanied by other cells, not long closed, each containing its +Bee-bread and its egg. In this case, I have sometimes, though not +always, witnessed the following: when once the Bee realises the +shortcomings of the unfinished nest, she begins to gnaw the clay lid +closing one of the adjoining cells. She softens a part of the mortar +cover with saliva and patiently, atom by atom, digs through the hard +wall. It is very slow work. A good half-hour elapses before the tiny +cavity is large enough to admit a pin's head. I wait longer still. Then +I lose patience; and, fully convinced that the Bee is trying to open the +store-room, I decide to help her to shorten the work. The upper part +of the cell comes away with it, leaving the edges badly broken. In my +awkwardness, I have turned an elegant vase into a wretched cracked pot. + +I was right in my conjecture: the Bee's intention was to break open the +door. Straight away, without heeding the raggedness of the orifice, she +settles down in the cell which I have opened for her. Time after +time, she fetches honey and pollen, though the larder is already fully +stocked. Lastly, she lays her egg in this cell which already contains an +egg that is not hers, having done which she closes the broken aperture +to the best of her ability. So this purveyor had neither the knowledge +nor the power to bow to the inevitable. I had made it impossible for her +to go on with her purveying, unless she first completed the unfinished +cell substituted for her own. But she did not retreat before that +impossible task. She accomplished her work, but in the absurdest way: by +injuriously trespassing upon another's property, by continuing to store +provisions in a cupboard already full to overflowing, by laying her +egg in a cell in which the real owner had already laid and lastly by +hurriedly closing an orifice that called for serious repairs. What +better proof could be wished of the irresistible propensity which the +insect obeys? + +Lastly, there are certain swift and consecutive actions so closely +interlinked that the performance of the second demands a previous +repetition of the first, even when this action has become useless. I +have already described how the Yellow-winged Sphex (Cf. "Insect Life": +chapters 6 to 9.--Translator's Note.) persists in descending into +her burrow alone, after depositing at its edge the Cricket whom I +maliciously at once remove. Her repeated discomfitures do not make her +abandon the preliminary inspection of the home, an inspection which +becomes quite useless when renewed for the tenth or twentieth time. +The Mason-bee of the Walls shows us, under another form, a similar +repetition of an act which is useless in itself, but which is the +compulsory preface to the act that follows. When arriving with her +provisions, the Bee performs a twofold operation of storing. First, she +dives head foremost into the cell, to disgorge the contents of her crop; +next, she comes out and at once goes in again backwards, to brush her +abdomen and rub off the load of pollen. At the moment when the insect +is about to enter the cell tail first, I push her aside gently with a +straw. The second act is thus prevented. The Bee now begins the whole +performance over again, that is to say, she once more dives head first +to the bottom of the cell, though she has nothing left to disgorge, as +her crop has just been emptied. When this is done, it is the belly's +turn. I instantly push her aside again. The insect repeats its +proceedings, still entering head first; I also repeat my touch of the +straw. And this can go on as long as the observer pleases. Pushed aside +at the moment when she is about to insert her abdomen into the cell, the +Bee goes back to the opening and persists in going down head first +to begin with. Sometimes, she descends to the bottom, sometimes only +half-way, sometimes again she only pretends to descend, just bending her +head into the aperture; but, whether completed or not, this action, for +which there is no longer any motive, since the honey has already been +disgorged, invariably precedes the entrance backwards to deposit the +pollen. It is almost the movement of a machine whose works are only set +going when the driving-wheel begins to revolve. + + + +CHAPTER 4. MORE ENQUIRIES INTO MASON-BEES. + +This chapter was to have taken the form of a letter addressed to Charles +Darwin, the illustrious naturalist who now lies buried beside Newton in +Westminster Abbey. It was my task to report to him the result of +some experiments which he had suggested to me in the course of our +correspondence: a very pleasant task, for, though facts, as I see them, +disincline me to accept his theories, I have none the less the deepest +veneration for his noble character and his scientific honesty. I was +drafting my letter when the sad news reached me: Darwin was dead; after +searching the mighty question of origins, he was now grappling with +the last and darkest problem of the hereafter. (Darwin died at Down, +in Kent, on the 19th of April 1882.--Translator's Note.) I therefore +abandon the epistolary form, which would be unwarranted in view of that +grave at Westminster. A free and impersonal statement shall set forth +what I intended to relate in a more academic manner. + +One thing, above all, had struck the English scientist on reading the +first volume of my "Souvenirs entomologiques", namely, the Mason-bees' +faculty of knowing the way back to their nests after being carried to +great distances from home. What sort of compass do they employ on their +return journeys? What sense guides them? The profound observer thereupon +spoke of an experiment which he had always longed to make with Pigeons +and which he had always neglected making, absorbed as he was by other +interests. This experiment, he thought, I might attempt with my Bees. +Substitute the insect for the bird; and the problem remained the same. I +quote from his letter the passage referring to the trial which he wished +made: + +'Allow me to make a suggestion in relation to your wonderful account +of insects finding their way home. I formerly wished to try it with +pigeons; namely, to carry the insects in their paper cornets about +a hundred paces in the opposite direction to that which you intended +ultimately to carry them, but before turning round to return, to put the +insects in a circular box with an axle which could be made to revolve +very rapidly first in one direction and then in another, so as to +destroy for a time all sense of direction in the insects. I have +sometimes imagined that animals may feel in which direction they were at +the first start carried.' + +This method of experimenting seemed to me very ingeniously conceived. +Before going west, I walk eastwards. In the darkness of their paper +bags, the mere fact that I am moving them gives my prisoners a sense of +the direction in which I am taking them. If nothing happened to disturb +this first impression, the insect would be guided by it in returning. +This would explain the homing of my Mason-bees carried to a distance of +two or three miles amid strange surroundings. But, when the insects have +been sufficiently impressed by their conveyance to the east, there comes +the rapid twirl, first this way round, then that. Bewildered by all +these revolutions first in one direction and then in another, the insect +does not know that I have turned round and remains under its original +impression. I am now taking it to the west, when it believes itself +to be still travelling towards the east. Under the influence of this +impression; the insect is bound to lose its bearings. When set free, it +will fly in the opposite direction to its home, which it will never find +again. + +This result seemed to me the more probable inasmuch as the statements +of the country-folk around me were all of a nature to confirm my hopes. +Favier (The author's gardener and factotum. Cf. "The Life of the +Fly": chapter 4.--Translator's Note.), the very man for this sort of +information, was the first to put me on the track. He told me that, when +people want to move a Cat from one farm to another at some distance, +they place the animal in a bag which they twirl rapidly at the moment of +starting, thus preventing the animal from returning to the house which +it has quitted. Many others, besides Favier, described the same practice +to me. According to them, this twirling round in a bag was an infallible +expedient: the bewildered Cat never returned. I communicated what I +had learnt to England, I wrote to the sage of Down and told him how the +peasant had anticipated the researches of science. Charles Darwin was +amazed; so was I; and we both of us almost reckoned on a success. + +These preliminaries took place in the winter; I had plenty of time to +prepare for the experiment which was to be made in the following May. + +'Favier,' I said, one day, to my assistant, 'I shall want some of those +nests. Go and ask our next-door neighbour's leave and climb to the roof +of his shed, with some new tiles and some mortar, which you can fetch +from the builder's. Take a dozen tiles from the roof, those with the +biggest nests on them, and put the new ones in their place.' + +Things were done accordingly. My neighbour assented with a good grace to +the exchange of tiles, for he himself is obliged, from time to time, to +demolish the work of the Mason-bee, unless he would risk seeing his roof +fall in sooner or later. I was merely forestalling a repair which became +more urgent every year. That same evening, I was in possession of twelve +magnificent rectangular blocks of nest, each lying on the convex surface +of a tile, that is to say, on the surface looking towards the inside of +the shed. I had the curiosity to weigh the largest: it turned the scale +at thirty-five pounds. Now the roof whence it came was covered with +similar masses, adjoining one another, over a stretch of some seventy +tiles. Reckoning only half the weight, so as to strike an average +between the largest and the smallest lumps, we find the total weight of +the Bee's masonry to amount to three-quarters of a ton. And, even so, +people tell me that they have seen this beaten elsewhere. Leave the +Mason-bee to her own devices, in the spot that suits her; allow the +work of many generations to accumulate; and, one fine day, the roof will +break down under the extra burden. Let the nests grow old; let them +fall to pieces when the damp gets into them; and you will have chunks +tumbling on your head big enough to crack your skull. There you see the +work of a very little-known insect. (The insect is so little known that +I made a serious mistake when treating of it in the first volume of +these "Souvenirs." Under my erroneous denomination of Chalicodoma +sicula are really comprised two species, one building its nests in +our dwellings and particularly under the tiles of outhouses, the other +building its nests on the branches of shrubs. The first species has +received various names, which are, in order of priority: Chalicodoma +pyrenaica, LEP. (Megachile); Chalicodoma pyrrhopeza, GERSTACKER; +Chalicodoma rufitarsis, GIRAUD. It is a pity that the name occupying the +first place should lend itself to misconception. I hesitate to apply +the epithet of Pyrenean to an insect which is much less common in the +Pyrenees than in my own district. I shall call it the Chalicodoma, or +Mason-bee, of the Sheds. There is no objection to the use of this name +in a book where the reader prefers lucidity to the tyranny of systematic +entomology. The second species, that which builds its nests on the +branches, is Chalicodoma rufescens, J. PEREZ. For a like reason, I shall +call it the Chalicodoma of the Shrubs. I owe these corrections to the +kindness of Professor Jean Perez, of Bordeaux, who is so well-versed in +the lore of Wasps and Bees.--Author's Note.) + +These treasures were insufficient, not in regard to quantity, but in +regard to quality, for the main object which I had in view. They came +from the nearest house, separated from mine by a little field planted +with corn and olive-trees. I had reason to fear that the insects issuing +from those nests might be hereditarily influenced by their ancestors, +who had lived in the shed for many a long year. The Bee, when carried +to a distance, would perhaps come back, guided by the inveterate family +habit; she would find the shed of her lineal predecessors and thence, +without difficulty, reach her nest. As it is the fashion nowadays to +assign a prominent part to these hereditary influences, I must eliminate +them from my experiments. I want strange Bees, brought from afar, whose +return to the place of their birth can in no way assist their return to +the nest transplanted to another site. + +Favier took the business in hand. He had discovered on the banks of +the Aygues, at some miles from the village, a deserted hut where the +Mason-bees had established themselves in a numerous colony. He proposed +to take the wheelbarrow, in which to move the blocks of cells; but +I objected: the jolting of the vehicle over the rough paths might +jeopardise the contents of the cells. A basket carried on the shoulder +was deemed safer. Favier took a man to help him and set out. The +expedition provided me with four well-stocked tiles. It was all that the +two men were able to carry between them; and even then I had to stand +treat on their arrival: they were utterly exhausted. Le Vaillant tells +us of a nest of Republicans (Social Weaver-birds.--Translator's Note.) +with which he loaded a wagon drawn by two oxen. My Mason-bee vies with +the South-African bird: a yoke of Oxen would not have been too many to +move the whole of that nest from the banks of the Aygues. + +The next thing is to place my tiles. I want to have them under my eyes, +in a position where I can watch them easily and save myself the worries +of earlier days: going up and down ladders, standing for hours at a +stretch on a narrow rung that hurt the soles of my feet and risking +sunstroke up against a scorching wall. Moreover, it is necessary that +my guests should feel almost as much at home with me as where they come +from. I must make life pleasant for them, if I should have them grow +attached to the new dwelling. And I happen to have the very thing for +them. + +Under the leads of my house is a wide arch, the sides of which get +the sun, while the back remains in the shade. There is something for +everybody: the shade for me, the sunlight for my boarders. We fasten +a stout hook to each tile and hang it on the wall, on a level with our +eyes. Half my nests are on the right, half on the left. The general +effect is rather original. Any one walking in and seeing my show for +the first time begins by taking it for a display of smoked provisions, +gammons of some outlandish bacon curing in the sun. On perceiving his +mistake, he falls into raptures at these new hives of mine. The news +spreads through the village and more than one pokes fun at it. They look +upon me as a keeper of hybrid Bees: + +'I wonder what he's going to make out of that!' say they. + +My hives are in full swing before the end of April. When the work is at +its height, the swarm becomes a little eddying, buzzing cloud. The +arch is a much-frequented passage: it leads to a store-room for various +household provisions. The members of my family bully me at first for +establishing this dangerous commonwealth within the precincts of our +home. They dare not go to fetch things: they would have to pass through +a swarm of Bees; and then...look out for stings! There is nothing for +it but to prove, once and for all, that the danger does not exist, that +mine is a most peaceable Bee, incapable of stinging so long as she is +not startled. I bring my face close to one of the clay nests, so as +almost to touch it, while it is black with Masons at work; I let my +fingers wander through the ranks, I put a few Bees on my hand, I stand +in the thick of the whirling crowd and never a prick do I receive. I +have long known their peaceful character. Time was when I used to share +the common fears, when I hesitated before venturing into a swarm of +Anthophorae or Chalicodomae; nowadays, I have quite got over those +terrors. If you do not tease the insect, the thought of hurting you +will never occur to it. At the worst, a single specimen, prompted by +curiosity rather than anger, will come and hover in front of your face, +examining you with some persistency, but employing a buzz as her only +threat. Let her be: her scrutiny is quite friendly. + +After a few demonstrations, my household were reassured: all, old and +young, moved in and out of the arch as though there were nothing unusual +about it. My Bees, far from remaining an object of dread, became an +object of diversion; every one took pleasure in watching the progress +of their ingenious work. I was careful not to divulge the secret to +strangers. If any one, coming on business, passed outside the arch while +I was standing before the hanging nests, some such brief dialogue as the +following would take place: + +'So they know you; that's why they don't sting you?' + +'They certainly know me.' + +'And me?' + +'Oh, you; that's another matter!' + +Whereupon the intruder would keep at a respectful distance, which was +what I wanted. + +It is time that we thought of experimenting. The Mason-bees intended +for the journey must be marked with a sign whereby I may know them. A +solution of gum arabic, thickened with a colouring-powder, red, blue or +some other shade, is the material which I use to mark my travellers. The +variety in hue will save me from confusing the subjects of my different +experiments. + +When making my former investigations, I used to mark the Bees at the +place where I set them free. For this operation, the insects had to +be held in the fingers one after the other; and I was thus exposed +to frequent stings, which smarted all the more for being constantly +repeated. The consequence was that I was not always quite able to +control my fingers and thumbs, to the great detriment of my travellers; +for I could easily warp their wing-joints and thus weaken their flight. +It was worth while improving the method of operation, both in my own +interest and in that of the insect. I must mark the Bee, carry her to a +distance and release her, without taking her in my fingers, without +once touching her. The experiment was bound to gain by these nice +precautions. I will describe the method which I adopted. + +The Bee is so much engrossed in her work when she buries her abdomen +in the cell and rids herself of her load of pollen, or when she is +building, that it is easy, at such times, without alarming her, to mark +the upper side of the thorax with a straw dipped in the coloured glue. +The insect is not disturbed by that slight touch. It flies off; it +returns laden with mortar or pollen. You allow these trips to be +repeated until the mark on the thorax is quite dry, which soon happens +in the hot sun necessary to the Bee's labours. The next thing is to +catch her and imprison her in a paper bag, still without touching +her. Nothing could be easier. You place a small test-tube over the Bee +engrossed in her work; the insect, on leaving, rushes into it and is +thence transferred to the paper bag, which is forthwith closed and +placed in the tin box that will serve as a conveyance for the whole +party. When releasing the Bees, all you have to do is open the bags. The +whole performance is thus effected without once giving that distressing +squeeze of the fingers. + +Another question remains to be solved before we go further. What +time-limit shall I allow for this census of the Bees that return to +the nest? Let me explain what I mean. The dot which I have made in +the middle of the thorax with a touch of my sticky straw is not very +permanent: it merely adheres to the hairs. At the same time, it would +have been no more lasting if I had held the insect in my fingers. Now +the Bee often brushes her back: she dusts it each time she leaves the +galleries; besides, she is always rubbing her coat against the walls of +the cell, which she has to enter and to leave each time that she brings +honey. A Mason-bee, so smartly dressed at the start, at the end of +her work is in rags; her fur is all worn bare and as tattered as a +mechanic's overall. + +Furthermore, in bad weather, the Mason-bee of the Walls spends the days +and nights in one of the cells of her dome, suspended head downwards. +The Mason-bee of the Sheds, as long as there are vacant galleries, does +very nearly the same: she takes shelter in the galleries, but with her +head at the entrance. Once those old habitations are in use, however, +and the building of new cells begun, she selects another retreat. In the +harmas (The piece of enclosed waste ground on which the author studies +his insects in their natural state. Cf. "The Life of the Fly": chapter +1.--Translator's Note.), as I have said elsewhere, are stone +heaps, intended for building the surrounding wall. This is where +my Chalicodomae pass the night. Piled up promiscuously, both sexes +together, they sleep in numerous companies, in crevices between two +stones laid closely one on top of the other. Some of these companies +number as many as a couple of hundred. The most common dormitory is a +narrow groove. Here they all huddle, as far forward as possible, with +their backs in the groove. I see some lying flat on their backs, like +people asleep. Should bad weather come on, should the sky cloud over, +should the north-wind whistle, they do not stir out. + +With all these things to take into consideration, I cannot expect my +dot on the Bee's thorax to last any length of time. By day, the constant +brushing and the rubbing against the partitions of the galleries +soon wipe it off; at night, things are worse still, in the narrow +sleeping-room where the Mason-bees take refuge by the hundred. After a +night spent in the crevice between two stones, it is not advisable to +trust to the mark made yesterday. Therefore, the counting of the number +of Bees that return to the nest must be taken in hand at once; tomorrow +would be too late. And so, as it would be impossible for me to recognize +those of my subjects whose dots had disappeared during the night, I will +take into account only the Bees that return on the same day. + +The question of the rotary machine remains. Darwin advised me to use a +circular box with an axle and a handle. I have nothing of the kind +in the house. It will be simpler and quite as effective to employ the +method of the countryman who tries to lose his Cat by swinging him in a +bag. My insects, each one placed by itself in a paper cornet (A cornet +is simply the old 'sugar-bag,' the funnel-shaped paper bag so common +on the continent and still used occasionally by small grocers and +tobacconists in England.--Translator's Note.) or screw, shall be placed +in a tin box; the screws of paper shall be wedged in so as to avoid +collisions during the rotation; lastly, the box shall be tied to a +cord and I will whirl the whole thing round like a sling. With this +contrivance, it will be quite easy to obtain any rate of speed that I +wish, any variety of inverse movements that I consider likely to make +my captives lose their bearings. I can whirl my sling first in one +direction and then in another, turn and turn about; I can slacken or +increase the pace; if I like, I can make it describe figures of eight, +combined with circles; if I spin on my heels at the same time, I am able +to make the process still more complicated by compelling my sling to +trace every known curve. That is what I shall do. + +On the 2nd of May 1880, I make a white mark on the thorax of ten +Mason-bees busied with various tasks: some are exploring the slabs of +clay in order to select a site; others are brick-laying; others are +garnering stores. When the mark is dry, I catch them and pack them as I +have described. I first carry them a quarter of a mile in the opposite +direction to the one which I intend to take. A path skirting my house +favours this preliminary manoeuvre; I have every hope of being alone +when the time comes to make play with my sling. There is a way-side +cross at the end; I stop at the foot of the cross. Here I swing my Bees +in every direction. Now, while I am making the box describe inverse +circles and loops, while I am pirouetting on my heels to achieve the +various curves, up comes a woman from the village and stares at me. +Oh, how she stares at me, what a look she gives me! At the foot of the +cross! Acting in such a silly way! People talked about it. It was sheer +witchcraft. Had I not dug up a dead body, only a few days before? Yes, +I had been to a prehistoric burial-place, I had taken from it a pair of +venerable, well-developed tibias, a set of funerary vessels and a few +shoulders of horse, placed there as a viaticum for the great journey. I +had done this thing; and people knew it. And now, to crown all, the +man of evil reputation is found at the foot of a cross indulging in +unhallowed antics. + +No matter--and it shows no small courage on my part--the gyrations are +duly accomplished in the presence of this unexpected witness. Then +I retrace my steps and walk westward of Serignan. I take the +least-frequented paths, I cut across country so as, if possible, to +avoid a second meeting. It would be the last straw if I were seen +opening my paper bags and letting loose my insects! When half-way, to +make my experiment more decisive still, I repeat the rotation, in as +complicated a fashion as before. I repeat it for the third time at the +spot chosen for the release. + +I am at the end of a flint-strewn plain, with here and there a scanty +curtain of almond-trees and holm-oaks. Walking at a good pace, I +have taken thirty minutes to cover the ground in a straight line. The +distance therefore is, roughly, two miles. It is a fine day, under a +clear sky, with a very light breeze blowing from the north. I sit down +on the ground, facing the south, so that the insects may be free to take +either the direction of their nest or the opposite one. I let them loose +at a quarter past two. When the bags are opened, the Bees, for the most +part, circle several times around me and then dart off impetuously in +the direction of Serignan, as far as I can judge. It is not easy to +watch them, because they fly off suddenly, after going two or three +times round my body, a suspicious-looking object which they wish, +apparently, to reconnoitre before starting. A quarter of an hour later, +my eldest daughter, Antonia, who is on the look-out beside the nests, +sees the first traveller arrive. On my return, in the course of the +evening, two others come back. Total: three home on the same day, out of +ten scattered abroad. + +I resume the experiment next morning. I mark ten Mason-bees with red, +which will enable me to distinguish them from those who returned on +the day before and from those who may still return with the white spot +uneffaced. The same precautions, the same rotations, the same localities +as on the first occasion; only, I make no rotation on the way, confining +myself to swinging my box round on leaving and on arriving. The insects +are released at a quarter past eleven. I preferred the forenoon, as this +was the busiest time at the works. One Bee was seen by Antonia to be +back at the nest by twenty minutes past eleven. Supposing her to be the +first let loose, it took her just five minutes to cover the distance. +But there is nothing to tell me that it is not another, in which case +she needed less. It is the fastest speed that I have succeeded in +noting. I myself am back at twelve and, within a short time, catch three +others. I see no more during the rest of the evening. Total: four home, +out of ten. + +The 4th of May is a very bright, calm, warm day, weather highly +propitious for my experiments. I take fifty Chalicodomae marked with +blue. The distance to be travelled remains the same. I make the first +rotation after carrying my insects a few hundred steps in the direction +opposite to that which I finally take; in addition, three rotations on +the road; a fifth rotation at the place where they are set free. If +they do not lose their bearings this time, it will not be for lack +of twisting and turning. I begin to open my screws of paper at twenty +minutes past nine. It is rather early, for which reason my Bees, on +recovering their liberty, remain for a moment undecided and lazy; but, +after a short sunbath on a stone where I place them, they take wing. I +am sitting on the ground, facing the south, with Serignan on my left +and Piolenc on my right. When the flight is not too swift to allow me to +perceive the direction taken, I see my released captives disappear to my +left. A few, but only a few, go south; two or three go west, or to right +of me. I do not speak of the north, against which I act as a screen. All +told, the great majority take the left, that is to say, the direction +of the nest. The last is released at twenty minutes to ten. One of the +fifty travellers has lost her mark in the paper bag. I deduct her from +the total, leaving forty-nine. + +According to Antonia, who watches the home-coming, the earliest arrivals +appeared at twenty-five minutes to ten, say fifteen minutes after the +first was set free. By twelve o'clock mid-day, there are eleven back; +and, by four o'clock in the evening, seventeen. That ends the census. +Total: seventeen, out of forty-nine. + +I resolved upon a fourth experiment, on the 14th of May. The weather +is glorious, with a light northerly breeze. I take twenty Mason-bees, +marked in pink, at eight o'clock in the morning. Rotations at the start, +after a preliminary backing in a direction opposite to that which I +intend to take; two rotations on the road; a fourth on arriving. All +those whose flight I am able to follow with my eyes turn to my left, +that is to say, towards Serignan. Yet I had taken care to leave the +choice free between the two opposite directions: in particular, I had +sent away my Dog, who was on my right. To-day, the Bees do not circle +round me: some fly away at once; the others, the greater number, feeling +giddy perhaps after the pitching of the journey and the rolling of the +sling, alight on the ground a few yards away, seem to wait until they +are somewhat recovered and then fly off to the left. I perceived this to +be the general flight, whenever I was able to observe at all. I was back +at a quarter to ten. Two Bees with pink marks were there before me, +of whom one was engaged in building, with her pellet of mortar in her +mandibles. By one o'clock in the afternoon there were seven arrivals; I +saw no more during the rest of the day. Total: seven out of twenty. + +Let us be satisfied with this: the experiment has been repeated often +enough, but it does not conclude as Darwin hoped, as I myself hoped, +especially after what I had been told about the Cat. In vain, adopting +the advice given, do I carry my insects first in the opposite direction +to the place at which I intend to release them; in vain, when about to +retrace my steps, do I twirl my sling with every complication in the +way of whirls and twists that I am able to imagine; in vain, thinking +to increase the difficulties, do I repeat the rotation as often as +five times over: at the start, on the road, on arriving; it makes no +difference: the Mason-bees return; and the proportion of returns on the +same day fluctuates between thirty and forty per cent. It goes to my +heart to abandon an idea suggested by so famous a man of science and +cherished all the more readily inasmuch as I thought it likely to +provide a final solution. The facts are there, more eloquent than any +number of ingenious views; and the problem remains as mysterious as +ever. + +In the following year, 1881, I began experimenting again, but in a +different way. Hitherto, I had worked on the level. To return to the +nest, my lost Bees had only to cross slight obstacles, the hedges +and spinneys of the tilled fields. To-day, I propose to add to +the difficulties of distance those of the ground to be traversed. +Discontinuing all my backing- and whirling-tactics, things which I +recognize as useless, I think of releasing my Chalicodomae in the thick +of the Serignan Woods. How will they escape from that labyrinth, where, +in the early days, I needed a compass to find my way? Moreover, I +shall have an assistant with me, a pair of eyes younger than mine and +better-fitted to follow my insects' first flight. That immediate start +in the direction of the nest has already been repeated very often and is +beginning to interest me more than the return itself. A pharmaceutical +student, spending a few days with my parents, shall be my eyewitness. +With him, I shall feel at ease; science and he are no strangers. + +The trip to the woods takes place on the 16th of May. The weather is +hot and hints at a coming storm. There is a perceptible breeze from +the south, but not enough to upset my travellers. Forty Mason-bees are +caught. To shorten the preparations, because of the distance, I do +not mark them while they are on the nests; I shall mark them at the +starting-point, as I release them. It is the old method, prolific of +stings; but I prefer it to-day, in order to save time. It takes me an +hour to reach the place. The distance, therefore, allowing for windings, +is about three miles. + +The site selected must permit me to recognize the direction of the +insects' first flight. I choose a clearing in the middle of the copses. +All around is a great expanse of dense woods, shutting out the horizon +on every side; on the south, in the direction of the nests, a curtain +of hills rises to a height of some three hundred feet above the spot at +which I stand. The wind is not strong, but it is blowing in the opposite +direction to that which my insects will have to take in order to +reach their home. I turn my back on Serignan, so that, when leaving +my fingers, the Bees, to return to the nest, will be obliged to fly +sideways, to right and left of me; I mark the insects and release them +one by one. I begin operations at twenty minutes past ten. + +One half of the Bees seem rather indolent, flutter about for a while, +drop to the ground, appear to recover their spirits and then start off. +The other half show greater decision. Although the insects have to fight +against the soft wind that is blowing from the south, they make straight +for the nest. All go south, after describing a few circles, a few loops, +around us. There is no exception in the case of any of those whose +departure we are able to follow. The fact is noted by myself and my +colleague beyond dispute or doubt. My Mason-bees head for the south as +though some compass told them which way the wind was blowing. + +I am back at twelve o'clock. None of the strays is at the nest; but, a +few minutes later, I catch two. At two o'clock, the number has increased +to nine. But now the sky clouds over, the wind freshens and the storm is +approaching. We can no longer rely on any further arrivals. Total: nine +out of forty, or twenty-two per cent. + +The proportion is smaller than in the former cases, when it varied +between thirty and forty per cent. Must we attribute this result to the +difficulties to be overcome? Can the Mason-bees have lost their way in +the maze of the forest? It is safer not to give an opinion: other causes +intervened which may have decreased the number of those who returned. I +marked the insects at the starting-place; I handled them; and I am not +prepared to say that they were all in the best of condition on leaving +my stung and smarting fingers. Besides, the sky has become overcast, a +storm is imminent. In the month of May, so variable, so fickle, in +my part of the world, we can hardly ever count on a whole day of fine +weather. A splendid morning is swiftly followed by a fitful afternoon; +and my experiments with Mason-bees have often suffered by these +variations. All things considered, I am inclined to think that the +homeward journey across the forest and the mountain is effected just as +readily as across the corn-fields and the plain. + +I have one last resource left whereby to try and put my Bees out of +their latitude. I will first take them to a great distance; then, +describing a wide curve, I will return by another road and release my +captives when I am near enough to the village, say, about two miles. A +conveyance is necessary, this time. My collaborator of the day in the +woods offers me the use of his gig. The two of us set off, with fifteen +Mason-bees, along the road to Orange, until we come to the viaduct. +Here, on the right, is the straight ribbon of the old Roman road, the +Via Domitia. We take it, driving north towards the Uchaux Mountains, +the classic home of superb Turonian fossils. We next turn back towards +Serignan, by the Piolenc Road. A halt is made by the stretch of country +known as Font-Claire, the distance from which to the village is about +one mile and five furlongs. The reader can easily follow my route on the +ordnance-survey map; and he will see that the loop described measures +not far short of five miles and a half. + +At the same time, Favier came and joined me at Font-Claire, by the +direct road, the one that runs through Piolenc. He brought with him +fifteen Mason-bees, intended for purposes of comparison with mine. I am +therefore in possession of two sets of insects. Fifteen, marked in pink, +have taken the five-mile bend; fifteen, marked in blue, have come by the +straight road, the shortest road for returning to the nest. The weather +is warm, exceedingly bright and very calm; I could not hope for a better +day for my experiment. The insects are given their freedom at mid-day. + +At five o'clock, the arrivals number seven of the pink Mason-bees, whom +I thought that I had bewildered by a long and circuitous drive, and six +of the blue Mason-bees, who came to Font-Claire by the direct route. The +two proportions, forty-six and forty per cent., are almost equal; and +the slight excess in favour of the insects that went the roundabout +way is evidently an accidental result which we need not take into +consideration. The bend described cannot have helped them to find their +way home; but it has also certainly not hampered them. + +There is no need of further proof. The intricate movements of a rotation +such as I have described; the obstacle of hills and woods; the pitfalls +of a road which moves on, moves back and returns after making a wide +circuit: none of these is able to disconcert the Chalicodomae or prevent +them from going back to the nest. + +I had written to Charles Darwin telling him of my first, negative +results, those obtained by swinging the Bees in a box. He expected +a success and was much surprised at the failure. Had he had time to +experiment with his Pigeons, they would have behaved just like my Bees; +the preliminary twirling would not have affected them. The problem +called for another method; and what he proposed was this: + +'To place the insect within an induction coil, so as to disturb any +magnetic or diamagnetic sensibility which it seems just possible that +they may possess.' + +To treat an insect as you would a magnetic needle and to subject it to +the current from an induction coil in order to disturb its magnetism or +diamagnetism appeared to me, I must confess, a curious notion, worthy +of an imagination in the last ditch. I have but little confidence in our +physics, when they pretend to explain life; nevertheless, my respect for +the great man would have made me resort to the induction-coils, if I had +possessed the necessary apparatus. But my village boasts no scientific +resources: if I want an electric spark, I am reduced to rubbing a sheet +of paper on my knees. My physics cupboard contains a magnet; and that is +about all. When this penury was realised, another method was suggested, +simpler than the first and more certain in its results, as Darwin +himself considered: + +'To make a very thin needle into a magnet; then breaking it into very +short pieces, which would still be magnetic, and fastening one of these +pieces with some cement on the thorax of the insects to be experimented +on. I believe that such a little magnet, from its close proximity to +the nervous system of the insect, would affect it more than would the +terrestrial currents.' + +There is still the same idea of turning the insect into a sort of bar +magnet. The terrestrial currents guide it when returning to the nest. It +becomes a living compass which, withdrawn from the action of the earth +by the proximity of a loadstone, loses its sense of direction. With a +tiny magnet fastened on its thorax, parallel with the nervous system +and more powerful than the terrestrial magnetism by reason of its +comparative nearness, the insect will lose its bearings. Naturally, in +setting down these lines, I take shelter behind the mighty reputation +of the learned begetter of the idea. It would not be accepted as serious +coming from a humble person like myself. Obscurity cannot afford these +audacious theories. + +The experiment seems easy; it is not beyond the means at my disposal. +Let us attempt it. I magnetise a very fine needle by rubbing it with my +bar magnet; I retain only the slenderest part, the point, some five or +six millimetres long. (.2 to.23 inch.--Translator's Note.) This broken +piece is a perfect magnet: it attracts and repels another magnetised +needle hanging from a thread. I am a little puzzled as to the best way +to fasten it on the insect's thorax. My assistant of the moment, +the pharmaceutical student, requisitions all the adhesives in his +laboratory. The best is a sort of cerecloth which he prepares specially +with a very fine material. It possesses the advantage that it can be +softened at the bowl of one's pipe when the time comes to operate out of +doors. + +I cut out of this cerecloth a small square the size of the Bee's thorax; +and I insert the magnetised point through a few threads of the material. +All that we now have to do is to soften the gum a little and then dab +the thing at once on the Mason-bee's back, so that the broken needle +runs parallel with the spine. Other engines of the same kind are +prepared and due note taken of their poles, so as to enable me to point +the south pole at the insect's head in some cases and at the opposite +end in others. + +My assistant and I begin by rehearsing the performance; we must have a +little practice before trying the experiment away from home. Besides, I +want to see how the insect will behave in its magnetic harness. I take a +Mason-bee at work in her cell, which I mark. I carry her to my study, +at the other end of the house. The magnetised outfit is fastened on the +thorax; and the insect is let go. The moment she is free, the Bee drops +to the ground and rolls about, like a mad thing, on the floor of the +room. She resumes her flight, flops down again, turns over on her side, +on her back, knocks against the things in her way, buzzes noisily, +flings herself about desperately and ends by darting through the open +window in headlong flight. + +What does it all mean? The magnet appears to have a curious effect on my +patient's system! What a fuss she makes! How terrified she is! The Bee +seemed utterly distraught at losing her bearings under the influence of +my knavish tricks. Let us go to the nests and see what happens. We have +not long to wait: my insect returns, but rid of its magnetic tackle. I +recognize it by the traces of gum that still cling to the hair of the +thorax. It goes back to its cell and resumes its labours. + +Always on my guard when searching the unknown, unwilling to draw +conclusions before weighing the arguments for and against, I feel doubt +creeping in upon me with regard to what I have seen. Was it really +the magnetic influence that disturbed my Bee so strangely? When she +struggled and kicked on the floor, fighting wildly with both legs and +wings, when she fled in terror, was she under the sway of the magnet +fastened on her back? Can my appliance have thwarted the guiding +influence of the terrestrial currents on her nervous system? Or was her +distress merely the result of an unwonted harness? This is what remains +to be seen and that without delay. + +I construct a new apparatus, but provide it with a short straw in place +of the magnet. The insect carrying it on its back rolls on the ground, +kicks and flings herself about like the first, until the irksome +contrivance is removed, taking with it a part of the fur on the thorax. +The straw produces the same effects as the magnet, in other words, +magnetism had nothing to do with what happened. My invention, in both +cases alike, is a cumbrous tackle of which the Bee tries to rid herself +at once by every possible means. To look to her for normal actions so +long as she carries an apparatus, magnetized or not, upon her back is +the same as expecting to study the natural habits of a Dog after tying a +kettle to his tail. + +The experiment with the magnet is impracticable. What would it tell us +if the insect consented to it? In my opinion, it would tell us nothing. +In the matter of the homing instinct, a magnet would have no more +influence than a bit of straw. + + + +CHAPTER 5. THE STORY OF MY CATS. + +If this swinging-process fails entirely when its object is to make the +insect lose its bearings, what influence can it have upon the Cat? Is +the method of whirling the animal round in a bag, to prevent its return, +worthy of confidence? I believed in it at first, so close-allied was it +to the hopeful idea suggested by the great Darwin. But my faith is now +shaken: my experience with the insect makes me doubtful of the Cat. If +the former returns after being whirled, why should not the latter? I +therefore embark upon fresh experiments. + +And, first of all, to what extent does the Cat deserve his reputation of +being able to return to the beloved home, to the scenes of his amorous +exploits on the tiles and in the hay-lofts? The most curious facts are +told of his instinct; children's books on natural history abound with +feats that do the greatest credit to his prowess as a pilgrim. I do +not attach much importance to these stories: they come from casual +observers, uncritical folk given to exaggeration. It is not everybody +who can talk about animals correctly. When some one not of the craft +gets on the subject and says to me, 'Such or such an animal is black,' I +begin by finding out if it does not happen to be white; and many a time +the truth is discovered in the converse proposition. Men come to me and +sing the praises of the Cat as a travelling-expert. Well and good: we +will now look upon the Cat as a poor traveller. And that would be the +extent of my knowledge if I had only the evidence of books and of people +unaccustomed to the scruples of scientific examination. Fortunately, +I am acquainted with a few incidents that will stand the test of my +incredulity. The Cat really deserves his reputation as a discerning +pilgrim. Let us relate these incidents. + +One day--it was at Avignon--there appeared upon the garden-wall a +wretched-looking Cat, with matted coat and protruding ribs, so thin +that his back was a mere jagged ridge. He was mewing with hunger. My +children, at that time very young, took pity on his misery. Bread +soaked in milk was offered him at the end of a reed. He took it. And the +mouthfuls succeeded one another to such good purpose that he was +sated and went off, heedless of the 'Puss! Puss!' of his compassionate +friends. Hunger returned; and the starveling reappeared in his wall-top +refectory. He received the same fare of bread soaked in milk, the same +soft words. He allowed himself to be tempted. He came down from the +wall. The children were able to stroke his back. Goodness, how thin he +was! + +It was the great topic of conversation. We discussed it at table: we +would tame the vagabond, we would keep him, we would make him a bed +of hay. It was a most important matter: I can see to this day, I shall +always see the council of rattleheads deliberating on the Cat's fate. +They were not satisfied until the savage animal remained. Soon he grew +into a magnificent Tom. His large round head, his muscular legs, his +reddish fur, flecked with darker patches, reminded one of a little +jaguar. He was christened Ginger because of his tawny hue. A mate joined +him later, picked up in almost similar circumstances. Such was the +origin of my series of Gingers, which I have retained for little short +of twenty years through the vicissitudes of my various removals. + +The first of these removals took place in 1870. A little earlier, a +minister who has left a lasting memory in the University, that fine +man, Victor Duruy (Jean Victor Duruy (1811-1894), author of a number +of historical works, including a well-known "Histoire des Romains", and +minister of public instruction under Napoleon III. from 1863 to 1869. +Cf. "The Life of the Fly": chapter 20.--Translator's Note.), had +instituted classes for the secondary education of girls. This was the +beginning, as far as was then possible, of the burning question of +to-day. I very gladly lent my humble aid to this labour of light. I +was put to teach physical and natural science. I had faith and was not +sparing of work, with the result that I rarely faced a more attentive or +interested audience. The days on which the lessons fell were red-letter +days, especially when the lesson was botany and the table disappeared +from view under the treasures of the neighbouring conservatories. + +That was going too far. In fact, you can see how heinous my crime was: I +taught those young persons what air and water are; whence the lightning +comes and the thunder; by what device our thoughts are transmitted +across the seas and continents by means of a metal wire; why fire +burns and why we breathe; how a seed puts forth shoots and how a flower +blossoms: all eminently hateful things in the eyes of some people, whose +feeble eyes are dazzled by the light of day. + +The little lamp must be put out as quickly as possible and measures +taken to get rid of the officious person who strove to keep it alight. +The scheme was darkly plotted with the old maids who owned my house and +who saw the abomination of desolation in these new educational methods. +I had no written agreement to protect me. The bailiff appeared with a +notice on stamped paper. It baldly informed that I must move out within +four weeks from date, failing which the law would turn my goods and +chattels into the street. I had hurriedly to provide myself with a +dwelling. The first house which we found happened to be at Orange. Thus +was my exodus from Avignon effected. + +We were somewhat anxious about the moving of the Cats. We were all of us +attached to them and should have thought it nothing short of criminal to +abandon the poor creatures, whom we had so often petted, to distress +and probably to thoughtless persecution. The shes and the kittens would +travel without any trouble: all you have to do is to put them in a +basket; they will keep quiet on the journey. But the old Tom-cats were +a serious problem. I had two: the head of the family, the patriarch; and +one of his descendants, quite as strong as himself. We decided to +take the grandsire, if he consented to come, and to leave the grandson +behind, after finding him a home. + +My friend Dr. Loriol offered to take charge of the forsaken one. The +animal was carried to him at nightfall in a closed hamper. Hardly +were we seated at the evening-meal, talking of the good fortune of +our Tom-cat, when we saw a dripping mass jump through the window. The +shapeless bundle came and rubbed itself against our legs, purring with +happiness. It was the Cat. + +I learnt his story next day. On arriving at Dr. Loriol's, he was locked +up in a bedroom. The moment he saw himself a prisoner in the unfamiliar +room, he began to jump about wildly on the furniture, against the +window-panes, among the ornaments on the mantelpiece, threatening to +make short work of everything. Mme. Loriol was frightened by the little +lunatic; she hastened to open the window; and the Cat leapt out among +the passers-by. A few minutes later, he was back at home. And it was no +easy matter: he had to cross the town almost from end to end; he had +to make his way through a long labyrinth of crowded streets, amid a +thousand dangers, including first boys and next dogs; lastly--and this +perhaps was an even more serious obstacle--he had to pass over the +Sorgue, a river running through Avignon. There were bridges at hand, +many, in fact; but the animal, taking the shortest cut, had used none of +them, bravely jumping into the water, as its streaming fur showed. I +had pity on the poor Cat, so faithful to his home. We agreed to do our +utmost to take him with us. We were spared the worry: a few days later, +he was found lying stiff and stark under a shrub in the garden. The +plucky animal had fallen a victim to some stupid act of spite. Some one +had poisoned him for me. Who? It is not likely that it was a friend! + +There remained the old Cat. He was not indoors when we started; he +was prowling round the hay-lofts of the neighbourhood. The carrier was +promised an extra ten francs if he brought the Cat to Orange with one of +the loads which he had still to convey. On his last journey he brought +him stowed away under the driver's seat. I scarcely knew my old Tom when +we opened the moving prison in which he had been confined since the +day before. He came out looking a most alarming beast, scratching and +spitting, with bristling hair, bloodshot eyes, lips white with foam. I +thought him mad and watched him closely for a time. I was wrong: it was +merely the fright of a bewildered animal. Had there been trouble with +the carrier when he was caught? Did he have a bad time on the journey? +History is silent on both points. What I do know is that the very nature +of the Cat seemed changed: there was no more friendly purring, no more +rubbing against our legs; nothing but a wild expression and the deepest +gloom. Kind treatment could not soothe him. For a few weeks longer, he +dragged his wretched existence from corner to corner; then, one day, I +found him lying dead in the ashes on the hearth. Grief, with the help of +old age, had killed him. Would he have gone back to Avignon, had he had +the strength? I would not venture to affirm it. But, at least, I think +it very remarkable that an animal should let itself die of home-sickness +because the infirmities of age prevent it from returning to its old +haunts. + +What the patriarch could not attempt, we shall see another do, over a +much shorter distance, I admit. A fresh move is resolved upon, that +I may have, at length, the peace and quiet essential to my work. This +time, I hope that it will be the last. I leave Orange for Serignan. + +The family of Gingers has been renewed: the old ones have passed away, +new ones have come, including a full-grown Tom, worthy in all respects +of his ancestors. He alone will give us some difficulty; the others, the +babies and the mothers, can be removed without trouble. We put them into +baskets. The Tom has one to himself, so that the peace may be kept. The +journey is made by carriage, in company with my family. Nothing striking +happens before our arrival. Released from their hampers, the females +inspect the new home, explore the rooms one by one; with their pink +noses they recognize the furniture: they find their own seats, their own +tables, their own arm-chairs; but the surroundings are different. They +give little surprised miaows and questioning glances. A few caresses and +a saucer of milk allay all their apprehensions; and, by the next day, +the mother Cats are acclimatised. + +It is a different matter with the Tom. We house him in the attics, where +he will find ample room for his capers; we keep him company, to relieve +the weariness of captivity; we take him a double portion of plates to +lick; from time to time, we place him in touch with some of his family, +to show him that he is not alone in the house; we pay him a host of +attentions, in the hope of making him forget Orange. He appears, in +fact, to forget it: he is gentle under the hand that pets him, he comes +when called, purrs, arches his back. It is well: a week of seclusion and +kindly treatment have banished all notions of returning. Let us give him +his liberty. He goes down to the kitchen, stands by the table like the +others, goes out into the garden, under the watchful eye of Aglae, who +does not lose sight of him; he prowls all around with the most innocent +air. He comes back. Victory! The Tom-cat will not run away. + +Next morning: + +'Puss! Puss!' + +Not a sign of him! We hunt, we call. Nothing. Oh, the hypocrite, the +hypocrite! How he has tricked us! He has gone, he is at Orange. None +of those about me can believe in this venturesome pilgrimage. I declare +that the deserter is at this moment at Orange mewing outside the empty +house. + +Aglae and Claire went to Orange. They found the Cat, as I said they +would, and brought him back in a hamper. His paws and belly were covered +with red clay; and yet the weather was dry, there was no mud. The Cat, +therefore, must have got wet crossing the Aygues torrent; and the moist +fur had kept the red earth of the fields through which he passed. The +distance from Serignan to Orange, in a straight line, is four and a half +miles. There are two bridges over the Aygues, one above and one below +that line, some distance away. The Cat took neither the one nor the +other: his instinct told him the shortest road and he followed that +road, as his belly, covered with red mud, proved. He crossed the torrent +in May, at a time when the rivers run high; he overcame his repugnance +to water in order to return to his beloved home. The Avignon Tom did the +same when crossing the Sorgue. + +The deserter was reinstated in his attic at Serignan. He stayed there +for a fortnight; and at last we let him out. Twenty-four hours had +not elapsed before he was back at Orange. We had to abandon him to his +unhappy fate. A neighbour living out in the country, near my former +house, told me that he saw him one day hiding behind a hedge with a +rabbit in his mouth. Once no longer provided with food, he, accustomed +to all the sweets of a Cat's existence, turned poacher, taking toll of +the farm-yards round about my old home. I heard no more of him. He came +to a bad end, no doubt: he had become a robber and must have met with a +robber's fate. + +The experiment has been made and here is the conclusion, twice proved. +Full-grown Cats can find their way home, in spite of the distance and +their complete ignorance of the intervening ground. They have, in their +own fashion, the instinct of my Mason-bees. A second point remains to be +cleared up, that of the swinging motion in the bag. Are they thrown out +of their latitude by this stratagem, are or they not? I was thinking +of making some experiments, when more precise information arrived and +taught me that it was not necessary. The first who acquainted me with +the method of the revolving bag was telling the story told him by a +second person, who repeated the story of a third, a story related on the +authority of a fourth; and so on. None had tried it, none had seen it +for himself. It is a tradition of the country-side. One and all extol +it as an infallible method, without, for the most part, having attempted +it. And the reason which they give for its success is, in their eyes, +conclusive. If, say they, we ourselves are blind-folded and then spin +round for a few seconds, we no longer know where we are. Even so with +the Cat carried off in the darkness of the swinging bag. They argue from +man to the animal, just as others argue from the animal to man: a faulty +method in either case, if there really be two distinct psychic worlds. + +The belief would not be so deep-rooted in the peasant's mind, if facts +had not from time to time confirmed it. But we may assume that, in +successful cases, the Cats made to lose their bearings were young and +unemancipated animals. With those neophytes, a drop of milk is enough +to dispel the grief of exile. They do not return home, whether they have +been whirled in a bag or not. People have thought it as well to subject +them to the whirling operation by way of an additional precaution; and +the method has received the credit of a success that has nothing to do +with it. In order to test the method properly, it should have been tried +on a full-grown Cat, a genuine Tom. + +I did in the end get the evidence which I wanted on this point. +Intelligent and trustworthy people, not given to jumping to conclusions, +have told me that they have tried the trick of the swinging bag to keep +Cats from returning to their homes. None of them succeeded when the +animal was full-grown. Though carried to a great distance, into another +house, and subjected to a conscientious series of revolutions, the Cat +always came back. I have in mind more particularly a destroyer of the +Goldfish in a fountain, who, when transported from Serignan to Piolenc, +according to the time-honoured method, returned to his fish; who, when +carried into the mountain and left in the woods, returned once more. The +bag and the swinging round proved of no avail; and the miscreant had to +be put to death. I have verified a fair number of similar instances, +all under most favourable conditions. The evidence is unanimous: the +revolving motion never keeps the adult Cat from returning home. The +popular belief, which I found so seductive at first, is a country +prejudice, based upon imperfect observation. We must, therefore, abandon +Darwin's idea when trying to explain the homing of the Cat as well as of +the Mason-bee. + + + +CHAPTER 6. THE RED ANTS. + +The Pigeon transported for hundreds of miles is able to find his way +back to his Dove-cot; the Swallow, returning from his winter quarters in +Africa, crosses the sea and once more takes possession of the old nest. +What guides them on these long journeys? Is it sight? An observer +of supreme intelligence, one who, though surpassed by others in the +knowledge of the stuffed animal under a glass case, is almost unrivalled +in his knowledge of the live animal in its wild state, Toussenel +(Alphonse Toussenel (1803-1885), the author of a number of interesting +and valuable works on ornithology.--Translator's Note.), the admirable +writer of "L'Esprit des betes", speaks of sight and meteorology as the +Carrier-pigeon's guides: + +'The French bird,' he says, 'knows by experience that the cold weather +comes from the north, the hot from the south, the dry from the east and +the wet from the west. That is enough meteorological knowledge to tell +him the cardinal points and to direct his flight. The Pigeon taken in +a closed basket from Brussels to Toulouse has certainly no means of +reading the map of the route with his eyes; but no one can prevent him +from feeling, by the warmth of the atmosphere, that he is pursuing the +road to the south. When restored to liberty at Toulouse, he already +knows that the direction which he must follow to regain his Dove-cot +is the direction of the north. Therefore he wings straight in that +direction and does not stop until he nears those latitudes where the +mean temperature is that of the zone which he inhabits. If he does not +find his home at the first onset, it is because he has borne a little +too much to the right or to the left. In any case, it takes him but a +few hours' search in an easterly or westerly direction to correct his +mistake.' + +The explanation is a tempting one when the journey is taken north and +south; but it does not apply to a journey east and west, on the same +isothermal line. Besides, it has this defect, that it does not admit of +generalization. One cannot talk of sight and still less of the influence +of a change of climate when a Cat returns home, from one end of a town +to the other, threading his way through a labyrinth of streets and +alleys which he sees for the first time. Nor is it sight that guides my +Mason-bees, especially when they are let loose in the thick of a wood. +Their low flight, eight or nine feet above the ground, does not allow +them to take a panoramic view nor to gather the lie of the land. What +need have they of topography? Their hesitation is short-lived: after +describing a few narrow circles around the experimenter, they start in +the direction of the nest, despite the cover of the forest, despite the +screen of a tall chain of hills which they cross by mounting the +slope at no great height from the ground. Sight enables them to avoid +obstacles, without giving them a general idea of their road. Nor has +meteorology aught to do with the case: the climate has not varied in +those few miles of transit. My Mason-bees have not learnt from any +experience of heat, cold, dryness and damp: an existence of a few weeks' +duration does not allow of this. And, even if they knew all about the +four cardinal points, there is no difference in climate between the spot +where their nest lies and the spot at which they are released; so that +does not help them to settle the direction in which they are to travel. + +To explain these many mysteries, we are driven therefore to appeal to +yet another mystery, that is to say, a special sense denied to mankind. +Charles Darwin, whose weighty authority no one will gainsay, arrives +at the same conclusion. To ask if the animal be not impressed by the +terrestrial currents, to enquire if it be not influenced by the close +proximity of a magnetic needle: what is this but the recognition of +a magnetic sense? Do we possess a similar faculty? I am speaking, of +course, of the magnetism of the physicists and not of the magnetism of +the Mesmers and Cagliostros. Assuredly we possess nothing remotely like +it. What need would the mariner have of a compass, were he himself a +compass? + +And this is what the great scientist acknowledges: a special sense, so +foreign to our organism that we are not able to form a conception of +it, guides the Pigeon, the Swallow, the Cat, the Mason-bee and a host of +others when away from home. Whether this sense be magnetic or no I will +not take upon myself to decide; I am content to have helped, in no small +degree, to establish its existence. A new sense added to our number: +what an acquisition, what a source of progress! Why are we deprived +of it? It would have been a fine weapon and of great service in the +struggle for life. If, as is contended, the whole of the animal kingdom, +including man, is derived from a single mould, the original cell, and +becomes self-evolved in the course of time, favouring the best-endowed +and leaving the less well-endowed to perish, how comes it that this +wonderful sense is the portion of a humble few and that it has left no +trace in man, the culminating achievement of the zoological progression? +Our precursors were very ill-advised to let so magnificent an +inheritance go: it was better worth keeping than a vertebra of the +coccyx or a hair of the moustache. + +Does not the fact that this sense has not been handed down to us +point to a flaw in the pedigree? I submit the little problem to the +evolutionists; and I should much like to know what their protoplasm and +their nucleus have to say to it. + +Is this unknown sense localized in a particular part of the Wasp and the +Bee? Is it exercised by means of a special organ? We immediately think +of the antennae. The antennae are what we always fall back upon when the +insect's actions are not quite clear to us; we gladly put down to them +whatever is most necessary to our arguments. For that matter, I had +plenty of fairly good reasons for suspecting them of containing the +sense of direction. When the Hairy Ammophila (A Sand-wasp who hunts the +Grey Worm, or Caterpillar of the Turnip-moth, to serve as food for her +grubs. For other varieties of the Ammophila, cf. "Insect Life": chapter +15.--Translator's Note.) is searching for the Grey Worm, it is with her +antennae, those tiny fingers continually fumbling at the soil, that she +seems to recognize the presence of the underground prey. Could not those +inquisitive filaments, which seem to guide the insect when hunting, also +guide it when travelling? This remained to be seen; and I did see. + +I took some Mason-bees and amputated their antennae with the scissors, +as closely as I could. These maimed ones were then carried to a distance +and released. They returned to the nest with as little difficulty as +the others. I once experimented in the same way with the largest of our +Cerceres (Cerceris tuberculata) (Another Hunting Wasp, who feeds her +young on Weevils. Cf. "Insect Life": chapters 4 and 5.--Translator's +Note.); and the Weevil-huntress returned to her galleries. This rids +us of one hypothesis: the sense of direction is not exercised by the +antennae. Then where is its seat? I do not know. + +What I do know is that the Mason-bees without antennae, though they go +back to the cells, do not resume work. They persist in flying in front +of their masonry, they alight on the clay cup, they perch on the rim of +the cell and there, seemingly pensive and forlorn, stand for a long time +contemplating the work which will never be finished; they go off, they +come back, they drive away any importunate neighbour, but they fetch +and carry no more honey or mortar. The next day, they do not appear. +Deprived of her tools, the worker loses all heart in her task. When the +Mason-bee is building, the antennae are constantly feeling, fumbling and +exploring, superintending, as it were, the finishing touches given to +the work. They are her instruments of precision; they represent the +builder's compasses, square, level and plumb-line. + +Hitherto my experiments have been confined to the females, who are much +more faithful to the nest by virtue of their maternal responsibilities. +What would the males do if they were taken from home? I have no great +confidence in these swains who, for a few days, form a tumultuous throng +outside the nests, wait for the females to emerge, quarrel for their +possession, amid endless brawls, and then disappear when the works are +in full swing. What care they, I ask myself, about returning to the +natal nest rather than settling elsewhere, provided that they find some +recipient for their amatory declarations? I was mistaken: the males do +return to the nest. It is true that, in view of their lack of strength, +I did not subject them to a long journey: about half a mile or so. +Nevertheless, this represented to them a distant expedition, an unknown +country; for I do not see them go on long excursions. By day, they visit +the nests or the flowers in the garden; at night, they take refuge +in the old galleries or in the interstices of the stone-heaps in the +harmas. + +The same nests are frequented by two Osmia-bees (Osmia tricornis and +Osmia Latreillii), who build their cells in the galleries left at +their disposal by the Chalicodomae. The most numerous is the first, the +Three-horned Osmia. It was a splendid opportunity to try and discover +to what extent the sense of direction may be regarded as general in +the Bees and Wasps; and I took advantage of it. Well, the Osmiae (Osmia +tricornis), both male and female, can find their way back to the nest. +My experiments were made very quickly, with small numbers and over short +distances; but the results agreed so closely with the others that I +was convinced. All told, the return to the nest, including my earlier +attempts, was verified in the case of four species: the Chalicodoma of +the Sheds, the Chalicodoma of the Walls, the Three-horned Osmia and the +Great or Warted Cerceris (Cerceris tuberculata). ("Insect Life": chapter +19.--Translator's Note.) Shall I generalize without reserve and allow +all the Hymenoptera (The Hymenoptera are an order of insects having +four membranous wings and include the Bees, Wasps, Ants, Saw-flies and +Ichneumon-flies.--Translator's Note.) this faculty of finding their +way in unknown country? I shall do nothing of the kind; for here, to my +knowledge, is a contradictory and very significant result. + +Among the treasures of my harmas-laboratory, I place in the first +rank an Ant-hill of Polyergus rufescens, the celebrated Red Ant, the +slave-hunting Amazon. Unable to rear her family, incapable of seeking +her food, of taking it even when it is within her reach, she needs +servants who feed her and undertake the duties of housekeeping. The Red +Ants make a practice of stealing children to wait on the community. They +ransack the neighbouring Ant-hills, the home of a different species; +they carry away nymphs, which soon attain maturity in the strange house +and become willing and industrious servants. + +When the hot weather of June and July sets in, I often see the Amazons +leave their barracks of an afternoon and start on an expedition. The +column measures five or six yards in length. If nothing worthy of +attention be met upon the road, the ranks are fairly well maintained; +but, at the first suspicion of an Ant-hill, the vanguard halts and +deploys in a swarming throng, which is increased by the others as they +come up hurriedly. Scouts are sent out; the Amazons recognize that they +are on a wrong track; and the column forms again. It resumes its march, +crosses the garden-paths, disappears from sight in the grass, reappears +farther on, threads its way through the heaps of dead leaves, comes +out again and continues its search. At last, a nest of Black Ants is +discovered. The Red Ants hasten down to the dormitories where the nymphs +lie and soon emerge with their booty. Then we have, at the gates of the +underground city, a bewildering scrimmage between the defending +blacks and the attacking reds. The struggle is too unequal to remain +indecisive. Victory falls to the reds, who race back to their abode, +each with her prize, a swaddled nymph, dangling from her mandibles. The +reader who is not acquainted with these slave-raiding habits would be +greatly interested in the story of the Amazons. I relinquish it, with +much regret: it would take us too far from our subject, namely, the +return to the nest. + +The distance covered by the nymph-stealing column varies: it all depends +on whether Black Ants are plentiful in the neighbourhood. At times, +ten or twenty yards suffice; at others, it requires fifty, a hundred or +more. I once saw the expedition go beyond the garden. The Amazons +scaled the surrounding wall, which was thirteen feet high at that point, +climbed over it and went on a little farther, into a cornfield. As +for the route taken, this is a matter of indifference to the marching +column. Bare ground, thick grass, a heap of dead leaves or stones, +brickwork, a clump of shrubs: all are crossed without any marked +preference for one sort of road rather than another. + +What is rigidly fixed is the path home, which follows the outward track +in all its windings and all its crossings, however difficult. Laden with +their plunder, the Red Ants return to the nest by the same road, often +an exceedingly complicated one, which the exigencies of the chase +compelled them to take originally. They repass each spot which they +passed at first; and this is to them a matter of such imperative +necessity that no additional fatigue nor even the gravest danger can +make them alter the track. + +Let us suppose that they have crossed a thick heap of dead leaves, +representing to them a path beset with yawning gulfs, where every moment +some one falls, where many are exhausted as they struggle out of the +hollows and reach the heights by means of swaying bridges, emerging at +last from the labyrinth of lanes. No matter: on their return, they will +not fail, though weighed down with their burden, once more to struggle +through that weary maze. To avoid all this fatigue, they would have but +to swerve slightly from the original path, for the good, smooth road is +there, hardly a step away. This little deviation never occurs to them. + +I came upon them one day when they were on one of their raids. They +were marching along the inner edge of the stone-work of the garden-pond, +where I have replaced the old batrachians by a colony of Gold-fish. +The wind was blowing very hard from the north and, taking the column +in flank, sent whole rows of the Ants flying into the water. The fish +hurried up; they watched the performance and gobbled up the drowning +insects. It was a difficult bit; and the column was decimated before it +had passed. I expected to see the return journey made by another road, +which would wind round and avoid the fatal cliff. Not at all. The +nymph-laden band resumed the parlous path and the Goldfish received a +double windfall: the Ants and their prizes. Rather than alter its track, +the column was decimated a second time. + +It is not easy to find the way home again after a distant expedition, +during which there have been various sorties, nearly always by different +paths; and this difficulty makes it absolutely necessary for the Amazons +to return by the same road by which they went. The insect has no choice +of route, if it would not be lost on the way: it must come back by +the track which it knows and which it has lately travelled. The +Processionary Caterpillars, when they leave their nest and go to another +branch, on another tree, in search of a type of leaf more to their +taste, carpet the course with silk and are able to return home by +following the threads stretched along their road. This is the most +elementary method open to the insect liable to stray on its excursions: +a silken path brings it home again. The Processionaries, with their +unsophisticated traffic-laws, are very different from the Mason-bees and +others, who have a special sense to guide them. + +The Amazon, though belonging to the Hymenopteron clan, herself possesses +rather limited homing-faculties, as witness her compulsory return by her +former trail. Can she imitate, to a certain extent, the Processionaries' +method, that is to say, does she leave, along the road traversed, not a +series of conducting threads, for she is not equipped for that work, +but some odorous emanation, for instance some formic scent, which would +allow her to guide herself by means of the olfactory sense? This view is +pretty generally accepted. The Ants, people say, are guided by the +sense of smell; and this sense of smell appears to have its seat in the +antennae, which we see in continual palpitation. It is doubtless very +reprehensible, but I must admit that the theory does not inspire me with +overwhelming enthusiasm. In the first place, I have my suspicions about +a sense of smell seated in the antennae: I have given my reasons before; +and, next, I hope to prove by experiment that the Red Ants are not +guided by a scent of any kind. + +To lie in wait for my Amazons, for whole afternoons on end, often +unsuccessfully, meant taking up too much of my time. I engaged an +assistant whose hours were not so much occupied as mine. It was my +grand-daughter Lucie, a little rogue who liked to hear my stories of +the Ants. She had been present at the great battle between the reds and +blacks and was much impressed by the rape of the long-clothes babies. +Well-coached in her exalted functions, very proud of already serving +that august lady, Science, my little Lucie would wander about the +garden, when the weather seemed propitious, and keep an eye on the Red +Ants, having been commissioned to reconnoitre carefully the road to the +pillaged Ant-hill. She had given proof of her zeal; I could rely upon +it. + +One day, while I was spinning out my daily quota of prose, there came a +banging at my study-door: + +'It's I, Lucie! Come quick: the reds have gone into the blacks' house. +Come quick!' + +'And do you know the road they took?' + +'Yes, I marked it.' + +'What! Marked it? How?' + +'I did what Hop-o'-my-Thumb did: I scattered little white stones along +the road.' + +I hurried out. Things had happened as my six-year-old colleague said. +Lucie had secured her provision of pebbles in advance and, on seeing +the Amazon regiment leave barracks, had followed them step by step and +placed her stones at intervals along the road covered. The Ants had made +their raid and were beginning to return along the track of tell-tale +pebbles. The distance to the nest was about a hundred paces, which gave +me time to make preparations for an experiment previously contemplated. + +I take a big broom and sweep the track for about a yard across. The +dusty particles on the surface are thus removed and replaced by others. +If they were tainted with any odorous effluvia, their absence will +throw the Ants off the track. I divide the road, in this way, at four +different points, a few feet a part. + +The column arrives at the first section. The hesitation of the Ants is +evident. Some recede and then return, only to recede once more; others +wander along the edge of the cutting; others disperse sideways and seem +to be trying to skirt the unknown country. The head of the column, at +first closed up to a width of a foot or so, now scatters to three +or four yards. But fresh arrivals gather in their numbers before the +obstacle; they form a mighty array, an undecided horde. At last, a few +Ants venture into the swept zone and others follow, while a few have +meantime gone ahead and recovered the track by a circuitous route. At +the other cuttings, there are the same halts, the same hesitations; +nevertheless, they are crossed, either in a straight line or by going +round. In spite of my snares, the Ants manage to return to the nest; and +that by way of the little stones. + +The result of the experiment seems to argue in favour of the sense of +smell. Four times over, there are manifest hesitations wherever the +road is swept. Though the return takes place, nevertheless, along the +original track, this may be due to the uneven work of the broom, which +has left certain particles of the scented dust in position. The Ants +who went round the cleared portion may have been guided by the sweepings +removed to either side. Before, therefore, pronouncing judgment for or +against the sense of smell, it were well to renew the experiment under +better conditions and to remove everything containing a vestige of +scent. + +A few days later, when I have definitely decided on my plan, Lucie +resumes her watch and soon comes to tell me of a sortie. I was counting +on it, for the Amazons rarely miss an expedition during the hot +and sultry afternoons of June and July, especially when the weather +threatens storm. Hop-o'-my-Thumb's pebbles once more mark out the road, +on which I choose the point best-suited to my schemes. + +A garden-hose is fixed to one of the feeders of the pond; the sluice is +opened; and the Ants' path is cut by a continuous torrent, two or three +feet wide and of unlimited length. The sheet of water flows swiftly and +plentifully at first, so as to wash the ground well and remove anything +that may possess a scent. This thorough washing lasts for nearly a +quarter of an hour. Then, when the Ants draw near, returning from the +plunder, I let the water flow more slowly and reduce its depth, so as +not to overtax the strength of the insects. Now we have an obstacle +which the Amazons must surmount, if it is absolutely necessary for them +to follow the first trail. + +This time, the hesitation lasts long and the stragglers have time to +come up with the head of the column. Nevertheless, an attempt is made to +cross the torrent by means of a few bits of gravel projecting above the +water; then, failing to find bottom, the more reckless of the Ants are +swept off their feet and, without loosing hold of their prizes, drift +away, land on some shoal, regain the bank and renew their search for +a ford. A few straws borne on the waters stop and become so many shaky +bridges on which the Ants climb. Dry olive-leaves are converted into +rafts, each with its load of passengers. The more venturesome, partly by +their own efforts, partly by good luck, reach the opposite bank without +adventitious aid. I see some who, dragged by the current to one or the +other bank, two or three yards off, seem very much concerned as to what +they shall do next. Amid this disorder, amid the dangers of drowning, +not one lets go her booty. She would not dream of doing so: death sooner +than that! In a word, the torrent is crossed somehow or other along the +regular track. + +The scent of the road cannot be the cause of this, it seems to me, for +the torrent not only washed the ground some time beforehand but also +pours fresh water on it all the time that the crossing is taking place. +Let us now see what will happen when the formic scent, if there really +be one on the trail, is replaced by another, much stronger odour, one +perceptible to our own sense of smell, which the first is not, at least +not under present conditions. + +I wait for a third sortie and, at one point in the road taken by the +Ants, rub the ground with some handfuls of freshly gathered mint. I +cover the track, a little farther on, with the leaves of the same plant. +The Ants, on their return, cross the section over which the mint was +rubbed without apparently giving it a thought; they hesitate in front of +the section heaped up with leaves and then go straight on. + +After these two experiments, first with the torrent of water which +washes away all traces of smell from the ground and then with the mint +which changes the smell, I think that we are no longer at liberty to +quote scent as the guide of the Ants that return to the nest by the road +which they took at starting. Further tests will tell us more about it. + +Without interfering with the soil, I now lay across the track some large +sheets of paper, newspapers, keeping them in position with a few small +stones. In front of this carpet, which completely alters the appearance +of the road, without removing any sort of scent that it may possess, the +Ants hesitate even longer than before any of my other snares, +including the torrent. They are compelled to make manifold attempts, +reconnaissances to right and left, forward movements and repeated +retreats, before venturing altogether into the unknown zone. The paper +straits are crossed at last and the march resumed as usual. + +Another ambush awaits the Amazons some distance farther on. I have +divided the track by a thin layer of yellow sand, the ground itself +being grey. This change of colour alone is enough for a moment to +disconcert the Ants, who again hesitate in the same way, though not +for so long, as they did before the paper. Eventually, this obstacle is +overcome like the others. + +As neither the stretch of sand nor the stretch of paper got rid of any +scented effluvia with which the trail may have been impregnated, it +is patent that, as the Ants hesitated and stopped in the same way as +before, they find their way not by sense of smell, but really and truly +by sense of sight; for, every time that I alter the appearance of the +track in any way whatever--whether by my destructive broom, my streaming +water, my green mint, my paper carpet or my golden sand--the returning +column calls a halt, hesitates and attempts to account for the changes +that have taken place. Yes, it is sight, but a very dull sight, whose +horizon is altered by the shifting of a few bits of gravel. To this +short sight, a strip of paper, a bed of mint-leaves, a layer of yellow +sand, a stream of water, a furrow made by the broom, or even lesser +modifications are enough to transform the landscape; and the regiment, +eager to reach home as fast as it can with its loot, halts uneasily on +beholding this unfamiliar scenery. If the doubtful zones are at length +passed, it is due to the fact that fresh attempts are constantly being +made to cross the doctored strips and that at last a few Ants +recognize well-known spots beyond them. The others, relying on their +clearer-sighted sisters, follow. + +Sight would not be enough, if the Amazon had not also at her service a +correct memory for places. The memory of an Ant! What can that be? In +what does it resemble ours? I have no answers to these questions; but a +few words will enable me to prove that the insect has a very exact and +persistent recollection of places which it has once visited. Here is +something which I have often witnessed. It sometimes happens that the +plundered Ant-hill offers the Amazons a richer spoil than the invading +column is able to carry away. Or, again, the region visited is rich in +Ant-hills. Another raid is necessary, to exploit the site thoroughly. In +such cases, a second expedition takes place, sometimes on the next +day, sometimes two or three days later. This time, the column does no +reconnoitring on the way: it goes straight to the spot known to abound +in nymphs and travels by the identical path which it followed before. +It has sometimes happened that I have marked with small stones, for a +distance of twenty yards, the road pursued a couple of days earlier +and have then found the Amazons proceeding by the same route, stone by +stone: + +'They will go first here and then there,' I said, according to the +position of the guide-stones. + +And they would, in fact, go first here and then there, skirting my line +of pebbles, without any noticeable deviation. + +Can one believe that odoriferous emanations diffused along the route +are going to last for several days? No one would dare to suggest it. It +must, therefore, be sight that directs the Amazons, sight assisted by +a memory for places. And this memory is tenacious enough to retain the +impression until the next day and later; it is scrupulously faithful, +for it guides the column by the same path as on the day before, across +the thousand irregularities of the ground. + +How will the Amazon behave when the locality is unknown to her? Apart +from topographical memory, which cannot serve her here, the region in +which I imagine her being still unexplored, does the Ant possess the +Mason-bee's sense of direction, at least within modest limits, and is +she able thus to regain her Ant-hill or her marching column? + +The different parts of the garden are not all visited by the marauding +legions to the same extent: the north side is exploited by preference, +doubtless because the forays in that direction are more productive. +The Amazons, therefore, generally direct their troops north of their +barracks; I seldom see them in the south. This part of the garden is, if +not wholly unknown, at least much less familiar to them than the other. +Having said that, let us observe the conduct of the strayed Ant. + +I take up my position near the Ant-hill; and, when the column returns +from the slave-raid, I force an Ant to step on a leaf which I hold out +to her. Without touching her, I carry her two or three paces away from +her regiment: no more than that, but in a southerly direction. It is +enough to put her astray, to make her lose her bearings entirely. I see +the Amazon, now replaced on the ground, wander about at random, still, +I need hardly say, with her booty in her mandibles; I see her hurry +away from her comrades, thinking that she is rejoining them; I see her +retrace her steps, turn aside again, try to the right, try to the left +and grope in a host of directions, without succeeding in finding her +whereabouts. The pugnacious, strong-jawed slave-hunter is utterly lost +two steps away from her party. I have in mind certain strays who, after +half an hour's searching, had not succeeded in recovering the route +and were going farther and farther from it, still carrying the nymph in +their teeth. What became of them? What did they do with their spoil? I +had not the patience to follow those dull-witted marauders to the end. + +Let us repeat the experiment, but place the Amazon to the north. +After more or less prolonged hesitations, after a search now in this +direction, now in that, the Ant succeeds in finding her column. She +knows the locality. + +Here, of a surety, is a Hymenopteron deprived of that sense of direction +which other Hymenoptera enjoy. She has in her favour a memory for places +and nothing more. A deviation amounting to two or three of our strides +is enough to make her lose her way and to keep her from returning to +her people, whereas miles across unknown country will not foil the +Mason-bee. I expressed my surprise, just now, that man was deprived of +a wonderful sense wherewith certain animals are endowed. The enormous +distance between the two things compared might furnish matter for +discussion. In the present case, the distance no longer exists: we have +to do with two insects very near akin, two Hymenoptera. Why, if they +issue from the same mould, has one a sense which the other has not, an +additional sense, constituting a much more overpowering factor than the +structural details? I will wait until the evolutionists condescend to +give me a valid reason. + +To return to this memory for places whose tenacity and fidelity I have +just recognized: to what degree does it consent to retain impressions? +Does the Amazon require repeated journeys in order to learn her +geography, or is a single expedition enough for her? Are the line +followed and the places visited engraved on her memory from the first? +The Red Ant does not lend herself to the tests that might furnish the +reply: the experimenter is unable to decide whether the path followed by +the expeditionary column is being covered for the first time, nor is it +in his power to compel the legion to adopt this or that different +road. When the Amazons go out to plunder the Ant-hills, they take the +direction which they please; and we are not allowed to interfere with +their march. Let us turn to other Hymenoptera for information. + +I select the Pompili, whose habits we shall study in detail in a later +chapter. (For the Wasp known as the Pompilus, or Ringed Calicurgus, +cf. "The Life and Love of the Insect", by J. Henri Fabre, translated by +Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapter 12.--Translator's Note.) They are +hunters of Spiders and diggers of burrows. The game, the food of the +coming larva, is first caught and paralysed; the home is excavated +afterwards. As the heavy prey would be a grave encumbrance to the Wasp +in search of a convenient site, the Spider is placed high up, on a tuft +of grass or brushwood, out of the reach of marauders, especially Ants, +who might damage the precious morsel in the lawful owner's absence. +After fixing her booty on the verdant pinnacle, the Pompilus casts +around for a favourable spot and digs her burrow. During the process of +excavation, she returns from time to time to her Spider; she nibbles at +the prize, feels, touches it here and there, as though taking stock of +its plumpness and congratulating herself on the plentiful provender; +then she returns to her burrow and goes on digging. Should anything +alarm or distress her, she does not merely inspect her Spider: she also +brings her a little closer to her work-yard, but never fails to lay her +on the top of a tuft of verdure. These are the manoeuvres of which I can +avail myself to gauge the elasticity of the Wasp's memory. + +While the Pompilus is at work on the burrow, I seize the prey and place +it in an exposed spot, half a yard away from its original position. +The Pompilus soon leaves the hole to enquire after her booty and goes +straight to the spot where she left it. This sureness of direction, this +faithful memory for places can be explained by repeated previous visits. +I know nothing of what has happened beforehand. Let us take no notice +of this first expedition; the others will be more conclusive. For the +moment, the Pompilus, without the least hesitation, finds the tuft of +grass whereon her prey was lying. Then come marches and counter-marches +upon that tuft, minute explorations and frequent returns to the exact +spot where the Spider was deposited. At last, convinced that the +prize is no longer there, the Wasp makes a leisurely survey of the +neighbourhood, feeling the ground with her antennae as she goes. The +Spider is descried in the exposed spot where I had placed her. Surprise +on the part of the Pompilus, who goes forward and then suddenly steps +back with a start: + +'Is it alive?' she seems to ask. 'Is it dead? Is it really my Spider? +Let us be wary!' + +The hesitation does not last long: the huntress grabs her victim, +drags her backwards and places her, still high up, on a second tuft of +herbage, two or three steps away from the first. She then goes back +to the burrow and digs for a while. For the second time, I remove the +Spider and lay her at some distance, on the bare ground. This is the +moment to judge of the Wasp's memory. Two tufts of grass have served as +temporary resting-places for the game. The first, to which she returned +with such precision, the Wasp may have learnt to know by a more or less +thorough examination, by reiterated visits that escaped my eye; but the +second has certainly made but a slight impression on her memory. She +adopted it without any studied choice; she stopped there just long +enough to hoist her Spider to the top; she saw it for the first time and +saw it hurriedly, in passing. Is that rapid glance enough to provide an +exact recollection? Besides, there are now two localities to be modelled +in the insect's memory: the first shelf may easily be confused with the +second. To which will the Pompilus go? + +We shall soon find out: here she comes, leaving the burrow to pay a +fresh visit to the Spider. She runs straight to the second tuft, where +she hunts about for a long time for her absent prey. She knows that it +was there, when last seen, and not elsewhere; she persists in looking +for it there and does not once think of going back to the first perch. +The first tuft of grass no longer counts; the second alone interests +her. And then the search in the neighbourhood begins again. + +On finding her game on the bare spot where I myself have placed it, the +Pompilus quickly deposits the Spider on a third tuft of grass; and the +experiment is renewed. This time, the Pompilus hurries to the third +tuft when she comes to look after her Spider; she hurries to it without +hesitation, without confusing it in any way with the first two, which +she scorns to visit, so sure is her memory. I do the same thing a couple +of times more; and the insect always returns to the last perch, without +worrying about the others. I stand amazed at the memory of that pigmy. +She need but catch a single hurried glimpse of a spot that differs in +no wise from a host of others in order to remember it quite well, +notwithstanding the fact that, as a miner relentlessly pursuing her +underground labours, she has other matters to occupy her mind. Could our +own memory always vie with hers? It is very doubtful. Allow the Red Ant +the same sort of memory; and her peregrinations, her returns to the nest +by the same road are no longer difficult to explain. + +Tests of this kind have furnished me with some other results worthy of +mention. When convinced, by untiring explorations, that her prey is no +longer on the tuft where she laid it, the Pompilus, as we were saying, +looks for it in the neighbourhood and finds it pretty easily, for I am +careful to put it in an exposed place. Let us increase the difficulty +to some extent. I dig the tip of my finger into the ground and lay the +Spider in the little hole thus obtained, covering her with a tiny leaf. +Now the Wasp, while in quest of her lost prey, happens to walk over this +leaf, to pass it again and again without suspecting that the Spider lies +beneath, for she goes and continues her vain search farther off. +Her guide, therefore is not scent, but sight. Nevertheless, she is +constantly feeling the ground with her antennae. What can be the +function of those organs? I do not know, although I assert that they +are not olfactory organs. The Ammophila, in search of her Grey Worm, had +already led me to make the same assertion; I now obtain an experimental +proof which seems to me decisive. I would add that the Pompilus has very +short sight: often she passes within a couple of inches of her Spider +without seeing her. + + + +CHAPTER 7. SOME REFLECTIONS UPON INSECT PSYCHOLOGY. + +The laudator temperis acti is out of favour just now: the world is on +the move. Yes, but sometimes it moves backwards. When I was a boy, our +twopenny textbooks told us that man was a reasoning animal; nowadays, +there are learned volumes to prove to us that human reason is but a +higher rung in the ladder whose foot reaches down to the bottommost +depths of animal life. There is the greater and the lesser; there are +all the intermediary rounds; but nowhere does it break off and start +afresh. It begins with zero in the glair of a cell and ascends until we +come to the mighty brain of a Newton. The noble faculty of which we were +so proud is a zoological attribute. All have a larger or smaller share +of it, from the live atom to the anthropoid ape, that hideous caricature +of man. + +It always struck me that those who held this levelling theory made facts +say more than they really meant; it struck me that, in order to obtain +their plain, they were lowering the mountain-peak, man, and elevating +the valley, the animal. Now this levelling of theirs needed proofs, +to my mind; and, as I found none in their books, or at any rate only +doubtful and highly debatable ones, I did my own observing, in order to +arrive at a definite conviction; I sought; I experimented. + +To speak with any certainty, it behoves us not to go beyond what +we really know. I am beginning to have a passable acquaintance with +insects, after spending some forty years in their company. Let us +question the insect, then: not the first that comes along, but the most +gifted, the Hymenopteron. I am giving my opponents every advantage. +Where will they find a creature more richly endowed with talent? It +would seem as though, in creating it, nature had delighted in bestowing +the greatest amount of industry upon the smallest body of matter. Can +the bird, wonderful architect that it is, compare its work with that +masterpiece of higher geometry, the edifice of the Bee? The Hymenopteron +rivals man himself. We build towns, the Bee erects cities; we have +servants, the Ant has hers; we rear domestic animals, she rears her +sugar-yielding insects; we herd cattle, she herds her milch-cows, +the Aphides; we have abolished slavery, whereas she continues her +nigger-traffic. + +Well, does this superior, this privileged being reason? Reader, do not +smile: this is a most serious matter, well worthy of our consideration. +To devote our attention to animals is to plunge at once into the vexed +question of who we are and whence we come. What, then, passes in that +little Hymenopteron brain? Has it faculties akin to ours, has it the +power of thought? What a problem, if we could only solve it; what a +chapter of psychology, if we could only write it! But, at our very +first questionings, the mysterious will rise up, impenetrable: we may be +convinced of that. We are incapable of knowing ourselves; what will it +be if we try to fathom the intellect of others? Let us be content if we +succeed in gleaning a few grains of truth. + +What is reason? Philosophy would give us learned definitions. Let us be +modest and keep to the simplest: we are only treating of animals. Reason +is the faculty that connects the effect with its cause and directs +the act by conforming it to the needs of the accidental. Within these +limits, are animals capable of reasoning? Are they able to connect +a 'because' with a 'why' and afterwards to regulate their behaviour +accordingly? Are they able to change their line of conduct when faced +with an emergency? + +History has but few data likely to be of use to us here; and those which +we find scattered in various authors are seldom able to withstand +a severe examination. One of the most remarkable of which I know is +supplied by Erasmus Darwin, in his book entitled "Zoonomia." It tells of +a Wasp that has just caught and killed a big Fly. The wind is blowing; +and the huntress, hampered in her flight by the great area presented by +her prize, alights on the ground to amputate the abdomen, the head and +the wings; she flies away, carrying with her only the thorax, which +gives less hold to the wind. If we keep to the bald facts, this does, +I admit, give a semblance of reason. The Wasp appears to grasp the +relation between cause and effect. The effect is the resistance +experienced in the flight; the cause is the dimensions of the prey +contending with the air. Hence the logical conclusion: those dimensions +must be lessened; the abdomen, the head and, above all, the wings must +be chopped off; and the resistance will be decreased. (I would gladly, +if I were able, cancel some rather hasty lines which I allowed myself +to pen in the first volume of these "Souvenirs" but scripta manent. All +that I can do is to make amends now, in this note, for the error into +which I fell. Relying on Lacordaire, who quotes this instance from +Erasmus Darwin in his own "Introduction a l'entomologie", I believed +that a Sphex was given as the heroine of the story. How could I do +otherwise, not having the original text in front of me? How could I +suspect that an entomologist of Lacordaire's standing should be capable +of such a blunder as to substitute a Sphex for a Common Wasp? Great was +my perplexity, in the face of this evidence! A Sphex capturing a Fly was +an impossibility; and I blamed the British scientist accordingly. But +what insect was it that Erasmus Darwin saw? Calling logic to my aid, +I declared that it was a Wasp; and I could not have hit the mark +more truly. Charles Darwin, in fact, informed me afterwards that his +grandfather wrote 'a Wasp' in his "Zoonomia." Though the correction did +credit to my intelligence, I none the less deeply regretted my mistake, +for I had uttered suspicions of the observer's powers of discernment, +unjust suspicions which the translator's inaccuracy led me into +entertaining. May this note serve to mitigate the harshness of the +strictures provoked by my overtaxed credulity! I do not scruple to +attack ideas which I consider false; but Heaven forfend that I should +ever attack those who uphold them!--Author's Note.) + +But does this concatenation of ideas, rudimentary though it be, really +take place within the insect's brain? I am convinced of the contrary; +and my proofs are unanswerable. In the first volume of these "Souvenirs" +(Cf. "Insect Life": chapter 9.--Translator's Note.), I demonstrated +by experiment that Erasmus Darwin's Wasp was but obeying her instinct, +which is to cut up the captured game and to keep only the most +nourishing part, the thorax. Whether the day be perfectly calm or +whether the wind blow, whether she be in the shelter of a dense thicket +or in the open, I see the Wasp proceed to separate the succulent from +the tough; I see her reject the legs, the wings, the head and the +abdomen, retaining only the breast as pap for her larvae. Then what +value has this dissection as an argument in favour of the insect's +reasoning-powers when the wind blows? It has no value at all, for it +would take place just the same in absolutely calm weather. Erasmus +Darwin jumped too quickly to his conclusion, which was the outcome of +his mental bias and not of the logic of things. If he had first enquired +into the Wasp's habits, he would not have brought forward as a serious +argument an incident which had no connection with the important question +of animal reason. + +I have reverted to this case to show the difficulties that beset the man +who confines himself to casual observations, however carefully carried +out. One should never rely upon a lucky chance, which may not occur +again. We must multiply our observations, check them one with the other; +we must create incidents, looking into preceding ones, finding out +succeeding ones and working out the relation between them all: then and +not till then, with extreme caution, are we entitled to express a few +views worthy of credence. Nowhere do I find data collected under such +conditions; for which reason, however much I might wish it, it is +impossible for me to bring the evidence of others in support of the few +conclusions which I myself have formed. + +My Mason-bees, with their nests hanging on the walls of the arch which I +have mentioned, lent themselves to continuous experiment better than any +other Hymenopteron. I had them there, at my house, under my eyes, at +all hours of the day, as long as I wished. I was free to follow their +actions in full detail and to carry out successfully any experiment, +however long. Moreover, their numbers allowed me to repeat my attempts +until I was perfectly convinced. The Mason-bees, therefore, shall supply +me with the materials for this chapter also. + +A few words, before I begin, about the works. The Mason-bee of the Sheds +utilizes, first of all, the old galleries of the clay nest, a part of +which she good-naturedly abandons to two Osmiae, her free tenants: the +Three-horned Osmia and Latreille's Osmia. These old corridors, which +save labour, are in great demand; but there are not many vacant, as the +more precocious Osmiae have already taken possession of most of them; +and therefore the building of new cells soon begins. These cells are +cemented to the surface of the nest, which thus increases in thickness +every year. The edifice of cells is not built all at once: mortar and +honey alternate repeatedly. The masonry starts with a sort of little +swallow's nest, a half-cup or thimble, whose circumference is completed +by the wall against which it rests. Picture the cup of an acorn cut in +two and stuck to the surface of the nest: there you have the receptacle +in a stage sufficiently advanced to take a first instalment of honey. + +The Bee thereupon leaves the mortar and busies herself with harvesting. +After a few foraging-trips, the work of building is resumed; and some +new rows of bricks raise the edge of the basin, which becomes capable +of receiving a larger stock of provisions. Then comes another change of +business: the mason once more becomes a harvester. A little later, the +harvester is again a mason; and these alternations continue until the +cell is of the regulation height and holds the amount of honey required +for the larva's food. Thus come, turn and turn about, more or less +numerous according to the occupation in hand, journeys to the dry and +barren path, where the cement is gathered and mixed, and journeys to +the flowers, where the Bee's crop is crammed with honey and her belly +powdered with pollen. + +At last comes the time for laying. We see the Bee arrive with a pellet +of mortar. She gives a glance at the cell to enquire if everything is in +order; she inserts her abdomen; and the egg is laid. Then and there +the mother seals up the home: with her pellet of cement she closes the +orifice and manages so well with the material that the lid receives its +permanent form at this first sitting; it has only to be thickened and +strengthened with fresh layers, a work which is less urgent and will +be done by and by. What does appear to be an urgent necessity is the +closing of the cell immediately after the egg has been religiously +deposited therein, so that there may be no danger from evilly-disposed +visitors during the mother's absence. The Bee must have serious reasons +for thus hurrying on the closing of the cell. What would happen if, +after laying her egg, she left the house open and went to the cement-pit +to fetch the wherewithal to block the door? Some thief might drop in +and substitute her own egg for the Mason-bee's. We shall see that our +suspicions are not uncalled-for. One thing is certain, that the Mason +never lays without having in her mandibles the pellet of mortar required +for the immediate construction of the lid of the nest. The precious +egg must not for a single instant remain exposed to the cupidity of +marauders. + +To these particulars I will add a few general observations which will +make what follows easier to understand. So long as its circumstances are +normal, the insect's actions are calculated most rationally in view of +the object to be attained. What could be more logical, for instance, +than the devices employed by the Hunting Wasp when paralysing her prey +(Cf. "Insect Life": chapters 3 to 12 and 15 to 17.--Translator's Note.) +so that it may keep fresh for her larva, while in no wise imperilling +that larva's safety? It is preeminently rational; we ourselves could +think of nothing better; and yet the Wasp's action is not prompted by +reason. If she thought out her surgery, she would be our superior. It +will never occur to anybody that the creature is able, in the smallest +degree, to account for its skilful vivisections. Therefore, so long +as it does not depart from the path mapped out for it, the insect can +perform the most sagacious actions without entitling us in the least to +attribute these to the dictates of reason. + +What would happen in an emergency? Here we must distinguish carefully +between two classes of emergency, or we shall be liable to grievous +error. First, in accidents occurring in the course of the insect's +occupation at the moment. In these circumstances, the creature is +capable of remedying the accident; it continues, under a similar form, +its actual task; it remains, in short; in the same psychic condition. +In the second case, the accident is connected with a more remote +occupation; it relates to a completed task with which, under normal +conditions, the insect is no longer concerned. To meet this emergency, +the creature would have to retrace its psychic course; it would have +to do all over again what it has just finished, before turning its +attention to anything else. Is the insect capable of this? Will it be +able to leave the present and return to the past? Will it decide to hark +back to a task that is much more pressing than the one on which it was +engaged? If it did all this, then we should really have evidence of a +modicum of reason. The question shall be settled by experiment. + +We will begin by taking a few incidents that come under the first +heading. A Mason-bee has finished the initial layer of the covering of +the cell. She has gone in search of a second pellet of mortar wherewith +to strengthen her work. In her absence, I prick the lid with a needle +and widen the hole thus made, until it is half the size of the opening. +The insect returns and repairs the damage. It was originally engaged on +the lid and is merely continuing its work in mending that lid. + +A second is still at her first row of bricks. The cell as yet is no more +than a shallow cup, containing no provisions. I make a big hole in the +bottom of the cup and the Bee hastens to stop the breach. She was busy +building and turned aside a moment to do more building. Her repairs are +the continuation of the work on which she was engaged. + +A third has laid her egg and closed the cell. While she is gone in +search of a fresh supply of cement to strengthen the door, I make a +large aperture immediately below the lid, too high up to allow the +honey to escape. The insect, on arriving with its mortar intended for +a different task, sees its broken jar and soon puts the damage right. +I have rarely witnessed such a sensible performance. Nevertheless, all +things considered, let us not be too lavish of our praises. The insect +was busy closing up. On its return, it sees a crack, representing in its +eyes a bad join which it had overlooked; it completes its actual task by +improving the join. + +The conclusion to be drawn from these three instances, which I select +from a large number of others, more or less similar, is that the insect +is able to cope with emergencies, provided that the new action be not +outside the course of its actual work at the moment. Shall we say then +that reason directs it? Why should we? The insect persists in the same +psychic course, it continues its action, it does what it was doing +before, it corrects what to it appears but a careless flaw in the work +of the moment. + +Here, moreover, is something which would change our estimate entirely, +if it ever occurred to us to look upon these repaired breaches as a +work dictated by reason. Let us turn to the second class of emergency +referred to above: let us imagine, first, cells similar to those in the +second experiment, that is to say, only half-finished, in the form of a +shallow cup, but already containing honey. I make a hole in the bottom, +through which the provisions ooze and run to waste. Their owners +are harvesting. Let us imagine, on the other hand, cells very nearly +finished and almost completely provisioned. I perforate the bottom in +the same way and let out the honey, which drips through gradually. The +owners of these are building. + +Judging by what has gone before, the reader will perhaps expect to see +immediate repairs, urgent repairs, for the safety of the future larva is +at stake. Let him dismiss any such illusion: more and more journeys are +undertaken, now in quest of food, now in quest of mortar; but not one of +the Mason-bees troubles about the disastrous breach. The harvester goes +on harvesting; the busy bricklayer proceeds with her next row of bricks, +as though nothing out of the way had happened. Lastly, if the injured +cells are high enough and contain enough provisions, the Bee lays her +eggs, puts a door to the house and passes on to another house, without +doing aught to remedy the leakage of the honey. Two or three days later, +those cells have lost all their contents, which now form a long trail on +the surface of the nest. + +Is it through lack of intelligence that the Bee allows her honey to go +to waste? May it not rather be through helplessness? It might happen +that the sort of mortar which the Mason has at her disposal will not set +on the edges of a hole that is sticky with honey. The honey may prevent +the cement from adjusting itself to the orifice, in which case the +insect's inertness would merely be resignation to an irreparable evil. +Let us look into the matter before drawing inferences. With my forceps, +I deprive the Bee of her pellet of mortar and apply it to the hole +whence the honey is escaping. My attempt at repairing meets with the +fullest success, though I do not pretend to compete with the Mason +in dexterity. For a piece of work done by a man's hand it is quite +creditable. My dab of mortar fits nicely into the mutilated wall; +it hardens as usual; and the escape of honey ceases. This is quite +satisfactory. What would it be had the work been done by the insect, +equipped with its tools of exquisite precision? When the Mason-bee +refrains, therefore, this is not due to helplessness on her part, nor to +any defect in the material employed. + +Another objection presents itself. We are going too far perhaps in +admitting this concatenation of ideas in the insect's mind, in expecting +it to argue that the honey is running away because the cell has a hole +in it and that to save it from being wasted the hole must be stopped. +So much logic perhaps exceeds the powers of its poor little brain. +Then, again, the hole is not seen; it is hidden by the honey trickling +through. The cause of that stream of honey is an unknown cause; and +to trace the loss of the liquid home to that cause, to the hole in the +receptacle, is too lofty a piece of reasoning for the insect. + +A cell in the rudimentary cup-stage and containing no provisions has a +hole, three or four millimetres (.11 to.15 inch.--Translator's Note.) +wide, made in it at the bottom. A few moments later, this orifice is +stopped by the Mason. We have already witnessed a similar patching. The +insect, having finished, starts foraging. I reopen the hole at the same +place. The pollen runs through the aperture and falls to the ground +as the Bee is rubbing off her first load in the cell. The damage is +undoubtedly observed. When plunging her head into the cup to take stock +of what she has stored, the Bee puts her antennae into the artificial +hole: she sounds it, she explores it, she cannot fail to perceive it. + +I see the two feelers quivering outside the hole. The insect notices the +breach in the wall: that is certain. It flies off. Will it bring back +mortar from its present journey to repair the injured jar as it did just +now? + +Not at all. It returns with provisions, it disgorges its honey, it rubs +off its pollen, it mixes the material. The sticky and almost solid mass +fills up the opening and oozes through with difficulty. I roll a spill +of paper and free the hole, which remains open and shows daylight +distinctly in both directions. I sweep the place clear over and over +again, whenever this becomes necessary because new provisions are +brought; I clean the opening sometimes in the Bee's absence, sometimes +in her presence, while she is busy mixing her paste. The unusual +happenings in the warehouse plundered from below cannot escape her any +more than the ever-open breach at the bottom of the cell. Nevertheless, +for three consecutive hours, I witness this strange sight: the Bee, full +of active zeal for the task in hand, omits to plug this vessel of the +Danaides. She persists in trying to fill her cracked receptacle, +whence the provisions disappear as soon as stored away. She constantly +alternates between builder's and harvester's work; she raises the edges +of the cell with fresh rows of bricks; she brings provisions which I +continue to abstract, so as to leave the breach always visible. She +makes thirty-two journeys before my eyes, now for mortar, now for honey, +and not once does she bethink herself of stopping the leakage at the +bottom of her jar. + +At five o'clock in the evening, the works cease. They are resumed on +the morrow. This time, I neglect to clean out my artificial orifice and +leave the victuals gradually to ooze out by themselves. At length, the +egg is laid and the door sealed up, without anything being done by the +Bee in the matter of the disastrous breach. And yet to plug the hole +were an easy matter for her: a pellet of her mortar would suffice. +Besides, while the cup was still empty, did she not instantly close the +hole which I had made? Why are not those early repairs of hers repeated? +It clearly shows the creature's inability to retrace the course of its +actions, however slightly. At the time of the first breach, the cup was +empty and the insect was laying the first rows of bricks. The accident +produced through my agency concerned the part of the work which occupied +the Bee at the actual moment; it was a flaw in the building, such as can +occur naturally in new courses of masonry, which have not had time to +harden. In correcting that flaw, the Mason did not go outside her usual +work. + +But, once the provisioning begins, the cup is finished for good and all; +and, come what may, the insect will not touch it again. The harvester +will go on harvesting, though the pollen trickle to the ground through +the drain. To plug the hole would imply a change of occupation of which +the insect is incapable for the moment. It is the honey's turn and not +the mortar's. The rule upon this point is invariable. A moment comes, +presently, when the harvesting is interrupted and the masoning resumed. +The edifice must be raised a storey higher. Will the Bee, once more a +builder, mixing fresh cement, now attend to the leakage at the bottom? +No more than before. What occupies her at present is the new floor, +whose brickwork would be repaired at once, if it sustained a damage; +but the bottom storey is too old a part of the business, it is ancient +history; and the worker will not put a further touch to it, even though +it be in serious danger. + +For the rest, the present and the following storeys will all have +the same fate. Carefully watched by the insect as long as they are in +process of building, they are forgotten and allowed to go to ruin once +they are actually built. Here is a striking instance: in a cell which +has attained its full height, I make a window, almost as large as the +natural opening, and place it about half-way up, above the honey. +The Bee brings provisions for some time longer and then lays her egg. +Through my big window, I see the egg deposited on the victuals. The +insect next works at the cover, to which it gives the finishing touches +with a series of little taps, administered with infinite care, while the +breach remains yawning. On the lid, it scrupulously stops up every pore +that could admit so much as an atom; but it leaves the great opening +that places the house at the mercy of the first-comer. It goes to that +breach repeatedly, puts in its head, examines it, explores it with its +antennae, nibbles the edges of it. And that is all. The mutilated cell +shall stay as it is, with never a dab of mortar. The threatened part +dates too far back for the Bee to think of troubling about it. + +I have said enough, I think, to show the insect's mental incapacity in +the presence of the accidental. This incapacity is confirmed by renewing +the test, an essential condition of all good experiments; therefore +my notes are full of examples similar to the one which I have just +described. To relate them would be mere repetition; I pass them over for +the sake of brevity. + +The renewal of a test is not sufficient: we must also vary our test. Let +us, then, examine the insect's intelligence from another point of view, +that of the introduction of foreign bodies into the cell. The Mason-bee +is a housekeeper of scrupulous cleanliness, as indeed are all the +Hymenoptera. Not a spot of dirt is suffered in her honey-pot; not a +grain of dust is permitted on the surface of her mixture. And yet, while +the jar is open, the precious Bee-bread is exposed to accidents. The +workers in the cells above may inadvertently drop a little mortar into +the lower cells; the owner herself, when working at enlarging the jar, +runs the risk of letting a speck of cement fall into the provisions. +A Gnat, attracted by the smell, may come and be caught in the honey; +brawls between neighbours who are getting into each other's way may +send some dust flying thither. All this refuse has to disappear and that +quickly, lest afterwards the larva should find coarse fare under its +delicate mandibles. Therefore the Mason-bees must be able to cleanse the +cell of any foreign body. And, in point of fact, they are well able to +do so. + +I place on the surface of the honey five or six bits of straw +a millimetre in length. (.039 inch.--Translator's Note.) Great +astonishment on the part of the returning insect. Never before have so +many sweepings accumulated in its warehouse. The Bee picks out the bits +of straw, one by one, to the very last, and each time goes and gets rid +of them at a distance. The effort is out of all proportion to the work: +I see the Bee soar above the nearest plane-tree, to a height of thirty +feet, and fly away beyond it to rid herself of her burden, a mere atom. +She fears lest she should litter the place by dropping her bit of straw +on the ground, under the nest. A thing like that must be carried very +far away. + +I place upon the honey-paste a Mason-bee's egg which I myself saw +laid in an adjacent cell. The Bee picks it out and throws it away at a +distance, as she did with the straws just now. There are two inferences +to be drawn from this, both extremely interesting. In the first place, +that precious egg, for whose future the Bee labours so indefatigably, +becomes a valueless, cumbersome, hateful thing when it belongs to +another. Her own egg is everything; the egg of her next door neighbour +is nothing. It is flung on the dust-heap like any bit of rubbish. The +individual, so zealous on behalf of her family, displays an abominable +indifference for the rest of her kind. Each one for himself. In the +second place, I ask myself, without as yet being able to find an answer +to my question, how certain parasites go to work to give their larva the +benefit of the provisions accumulated by the Mason-bee. If they decide +to lay their egg on the victuals in the open cell, the Bee, when she +sees it, will not fail to cast it out; if they decide to lay after the +owner, they cannot do so, for she blocks up the door as soon as her +laying is done. This curious problem must be reserved for future +investigation. (Cf. "The Life of the Fly": chapters 2 to 4; also later +chapters in the present volume.--Translator's Note.) + +Lastly, I stick into the paste a bit of straw nearly an inch long and +standing well out above the rim of the cell. The insect extracts it by +dint of great efforts, dragging it away from one side; or else, with +the help of its wings, it drags it from above. It darts away with the +honey-smeared straw and gets rid of it at a distance, after flying over +the plane-tree. + +This is where things begin to get complicated. I have said that, when +the time comes for laying, the Mason-bee arrives with a pellet of mortar +wherewith immediately to make a door to the house. The insect, with its +front legs resting on the rim, inserts its abdomen in the cell; it has +the mortar ready in its mouth. Having laid the egg, it comes out and +turns round to block the door. I wave it away for a second, at the +same time planting my straw as before, a straw sticking out nearly a +centimetre. (.39 inch.--Translator's Note.) What will the Bee do? Will +she, who is scrupulous in ridding the home of the least mote of dust, +extract this beam, which would certainly prove the larva's undoing by +interfering with its growth? She could, for just now we saw her drag out +and throw away, at a distance, a similar beam. + +She could and she doesn't. She closes the cell, cements the lid, seals +up the straw in the thickness of the mortar. More journeys are taken, +not a few, in search of the cement required to strengthen the cover. +Each time, the mason applies the material with the most minute care, +while giving the straw not a thought. In this way, I obtain, one after +the other, eight closed cells whose lids are surmounted by my mast, a +bit of protruding straw. What evidence of obtuse intelligence! + +This result is deserving of attentive consideration. At the moment when +I am inserting my beam, the insect has its mandibles engaged: they are +holding the pellet of mortar intended for the blocking-operation. As +the extracting-tool is not free, the extraction does not take place. I +expected to see the Bee relinquish her mortar and then proceed to remove +the encumbrance. A dab of mortar more or less is not a serious business. +I had already noticed that it takes my Mason-bees a journey of three +or four minutes to collect one. The pollen-expeditions last longer, a +matter of ten or fifteen minutes. To drop her pellet, grab the straw +with her mandibles, now disengaged, remove it and gather a fresh supply +of cement would entail a loss of five minutes at most. The Bee decides +differently. She will not, she cannot relinquish her pellet; and +she uses it. No matter that the larva will perish by this untimely +trowelling: the moment has come to wall up the door; the door is walled +up. Once the mandibles are free, the extraction could be attempted, at +the risk of wrecking the lid. But the Bee does nothing of the sort: she +keeps on fetching mortar; and the lid is religiously finished. + +We might go on to say that, if the Bee were obliged to depart in quest +of fresh mortar after dropping the first to withdraw the straw, she +would leave the egg unguarded and that this would be an extreme measure +which the mother cannot bring herself to adopt. Then why does she not +place the pellet on the rim of the cell? The mandibles, now free, +would remove the beam; the pellet would be taken up again at once; and +everything would go to perfection. But no: the insect has its mortar +and, come what may, employs it on the work for which it was intended. + +If any one sees a rudiment of reason in this Hymenopteron intelligence, +he has eyes that are more penetrating than mine. I see nothing in it +all but an invincible persistence in the act once begun. The cogs have +gripped; and the rest of the wheels must follow. The mandibles are +fastened on the pellet of mortar; and the idea, the wish to unfasten +them will never occur to the insect until the pellet has fulfilled its +purpose. And here is a still greater absurdity: the plugging once +begun is very carefully finished with fresh relays of mortar! Exquisite +attention is paid to a closing-up which is henceforth useless; no +attention at all to the dangerous beam. O little gleams of reason that +are said to enlighten the animal, you are very near the darkness, you +are naught! + +Another and still more eloquent fact will finally convince whoso may +yet be doubting. The ration of honey stored up in a cell is evidently +measured by the needs of the coming larva. There is neither too much nor +too little. How does the Bee know when the proper quantity is reached? +The cells are more or less constant in dimension, but they are not +filled completely, only to about two-thirds of their height. A large +space is therefore left empty; and the victualler has to judge of the +moment when the surface of the mess has attained the right level. The +honey being perfectly opaque, its depth is not apparent. I have to use +a sounding-rod when I want to gauge the contents of the jar; and I find, +on the average, that the honey reaches a depth of ten millimetres. (.39 +inch.--Translator's Note.) The Bee has not this resource; she has +sight, which may enable her to estimate the full section from the empty +section. This presupposes the possession of a somewhat geometric eye, +capable of measuring the third of a distance. If the insect did it by +Euclid, that would be very brilliant of it. What a magnificent proof in +favour of its little intellect: a Chalicodoma with a geometrician's eye, +able to divide a straight line into three equal parts! This is worth +looking into seriously. + +I take five cells, which are only partly provisioned, and empty them of +their honey with a wad of cotton held in my forceps. From time to +time, as the Bee brings new provisions, I repeat the cleansing-process, +sometimes clearing out the cell entirely, sometimes leaving a thin layer +at the bottom. I do not observe any pronounced hesitation on the part of +my plundered victims, even though they surprise me at the moment when +I am draining the jar; they continue their work with quiet industry. +Sometimes, two or three threads of cotton remain clinging to the +walls of the cells: the Bees remove them carefully and dart away to a +distance, as usual, to get rid of them. At last, a little sooner or a +little later, the egg is laid and the lid fastened on. + +I break open the five closed cells. In one, the egg has been laid on +three millimetres of honey (.117 inch.--Translator's Note.); in two, on +one millimetre (.039 inch.--Translator's Note.); and, in the two others, +it is placed on the side of the receptacle drained of all its contents, +or, to be more accurate, having only the glaze, the varnish left by the +friction of the honey-covered cotton. + +The inference is obvious: the Bee does not judge of the quantity of +honey by the elevation of the surface; she does not reason like a +geometrician, she does not reason at all. She accumulates so long as she +feels within her the secret impulse that prompts her to go on collecting +until the victualling is completed; she ceases to accumulate when that +impulse is satisfied, irrespective of the result, which in this case +happens to be worthless. No mental faculty, assisted by sight, informs +her when she has enough, or when she has too little. An instinctive +predisposition is her only guide, an infallible guide under normal +conditions, but hopelessly lost when subjected to the wiles of the +experimenter. Had the Bee the least glimmer of reason would she lay her +egg on the third, on the tenth part of the necessary provender? Would +she lay it in an empty cell? Would she be guilty of such inconceivable +maternal aberration as to leave her nurseling without nourishment? I +have told the story; let the reader decide. + +This instinctive predisposition, which does not leave the insect free to +act and, through that very fact, saves it from error, bursts forth under +yet another aspect. Let us grant the Bee as much judgment as you please. +Thus endowed, will she be capable of meting out the future's larva's +portion? By no means. The Bee does not know what that portion is. There +is nothing to tell the materfamilias; and yet, at her first attempt, she +fills the honey-pot to the requisite depth. True, in her childhood she +received a similar ration, but she consumed it in the darkness of +a cell; and besides, as a grub, she was blind. Sight was not her +informant: it did not tell her the quantity of the provisions. Did +memory, the memory of the stomach that once digested them? But digestion +took place a year ago; and since that distant epoch, the nurseling, now +an adult insect, has changed its shape, its dwelling, its mode of +life. It was a grub; it is a Bee. Does the actual insect remember that +childhood's meal? No more than we remember the sups of milk drawn from +our mother's breast. The Bee, therefore, knows nothing of the quantity +of provisions needed by her larva, whether from memory, from example +or from acquired experience. Then what guides her when she makes her +estimate with such precision? Judgment and sight would leave the mother +greatly perplexed, liable to provide too much or not enough. To instruct +her beyond the possibility of a mistake demands a special tendency, +an unconscious impulse, an instinct, an inward voice that dictates the +measure to be apportioned. + + + +CHAPTER 8. PARASITES. + +In August or September, let us go into some gorge with bare and +sun-scorched sides. When we find a slope well-baked by the summer heat, +a quiet corner with the temperature of an oven, we will call a halt: +there is a fine harvest to be gathered there. This tropical land is the +native soil of a host of Wasps and Bees, some of them busily piling the +household provisions in underground warehouses: here a stack of Weevils, +Locusts or Spiders, there a whole assortment of Flies, Bees, Mantes or +Caterpillars, while others are storing up honey in membranous wallets +or clay pots, or else in cottony bags or urns made with the punched-out +disks of leaves. + +With the industrious folk who go quietly about their business, the +labourers, masons, foragers, warehousers, mingles the parasitic tribe, +the prowlers hurrying from one home to the next, lying in wait at the +doors, watching for a favourable opportunity to settle their family at +the expense of others. + +A heart-rending struggle, in truth, is that which rules the insect world +and in a measure our own world too. No sooner has a worker, by dint +of exhausting labour, amassed a fortune for his children than the +non-producers come hastening up to contend for its possession. To one +who amasses there are sometimes five, six or more bent upon his ruin; +and often it ends not merely in robbery but in black murder. The +worker's family, the object of so much care, for whom that home was +built and those provisions stored, succumb, devoured by the intruders, +directly the little bodies have acquired the soft roundness of youth. +Shut up in a cell that is closed on every side, protected by its +silken covering, the grub, once its victuals are consumed, sinks into a +profound slumber, during which the organic changes needed for the future +transformation take place. For this new hatching, which is to turn a +grub into a Bee, for this general remodelling, the delicacy of which +demands absolute repose, all the precautions that make for safety have +been taken. + +These precautions will be foiled. The enemy will succeed in penetrating +the impregnable fortress; each foe has his special tactics, contrived +with appalling skill. See, an egg is inserted by means of a probe beside +the torpid larva; or else, in the absence of such an implement, an +infinitesimal grub, an atom, comes creeping and crawling, slips in and +reaches the sleeper, who will never wake again, already a succulent +morsel for her ferocious visitor. The interloper makes the victim's cell +and cocoon his own cell and his own cocoon; and next year, instead of +the mistress of the house, there will come from below ground the bandit +who usurped the dwelling and consumed the occupant. + +Look at this one, striped black, white and red, with the figure of a +clumsy, hairy Ant. She explores the slope on foot, inspects every nook +and corner, sounds the soil with her antennae. She is a Mutilla, the +scourge of the cradled grubs. The female has no wings, but, being a +Wasp, she carries a sharp poniard. To novice eyes she would easily pass +for a sort of robust Ant, distinguished from the common ruck by her garb +of staring motley. The male, wide-winged and more gracefully shaped, +hovers incessantly a few inches above the sandy expanse. For hours at a +time, on the same spot, after the manner of the Scolia-wasp he spies +the coming of the females out of the ground. If our watch be patient and +persevering, we shall see the mother, after trotting about for a bit, +stop somewhere and begin to scratch and dig, finally laying bare a +subterranean gallery, of which there was nothing to betray the entrance; +but she can discern what is invisible to us. She penetrates into the +abode, remains there for a while and at last reappears to replace the +rubbish and close the door as it was at the start. The abominable deed +is done: the Mutilla's egg has been laid in another's cocoon, beside the +slumbering larva on which the newborn grub will feed. + +Here are others, all aglitter with metallic gleams: gold, emerald, +blue and purple. They are the humming-birds of the insect-world, the +Chrysis-wasps, or Golden Wasps, another set of exterminators of the +larvae overcome with lethargy in their cocoons. In them, the atrocious +assassin of cradled children lies hidden under the splendour of the +garb. One of them, half emerald and half pale-pink, Parnopes carnea by +name, boldly enters the burrow of Bembex rostrata at the very moment +when the mother is at home, bringing a fresh piece to her larva, whom +she feeds from day to day. To the elegant criminal, unskilled in navvy's +work, this is the one moment to find the door open. If the mother were +away, the house would be shut up; and the Golden Wasp, that sneak-thief +in royal robes, could not get in. She enters, therefore, dwarf as she +is, the house of the giantess whose ruin she is meditating; she makes +her way right to the back, all heedless of the Bembex, her sting and +her powerful jaws. What cares she that the home is not deserted? Either +unmindful of the danger or paralysed with terror, the Bembex mother lets +her have her way. + +The unconcern of the invaded is equalled only by the boldness of +the invader. Have I not seen the Anthophora-bee, at the door to her +dwelling, stand a little to one side and make room for the Melecta to +enter the honey-stocked cells and substitute her family for the unhappy +parent's? One would think that they were two friends meeting on the +threshold, one going in, the other out! + +It is written in the book of fate: everything shall happen without +impediment in the burrow of the Bembex; and next year, if we open the +cells of that mighty huntress of Gad-flies, we shall find some which +contain a russet-silk cocoon, the shape of a thimble with its orifice +closed with a flat lid. In this silky tabernacle, which is protected +by the hard outer shell, is a Parnopes carnea. As for the grub of the +Bembex, that grub which wove the silk and next encrusted the outer +casing with sand, it has disappeared entirely, all but the tattered +remnants of its skin. Disappeared how? The Golden Wasp's grub has eaten +it. + +Another of these splendid malefactors is decked in lapis-lazuli on the +thorax and in Florentine bronze and gold on the abdomen, with a terminal +scarf of azure. The nomenclators have christened her Stilbum calens, +FAB. When Eumenes Amedei (A species of Mason-wasp.--Translator's Note.) +has built on the rock her agglomeration of dome-shaped cells, with +a casing of little pebbles set in the plaster, when the store of +Caterpillars is consumed and the secluded ones have hung their +apartments with silk, we see the Stilbum take her stand on the +inviolable citadel. No doubt some imperceptible cranny, some defect in +the cement, allows her to insert her ovipositor, which shoots out like +a probe. At any rate, about the end of the following May, the Eumenes' +chamber contains a cocoon which again is shaped like a thimble. From +this cocoon comes a Stilbum calens. There is nothing left of the +Eumenes' grub: the Golden Wasp has gorged herself upon it. + +Flies play no small part in this brigandage. Nor are they the least +to be dreaded, weaklings though they be, sometimes so feeble that the +collector dare not take them in his fingers for fear of crushing them. +There are some clad in velvet so extraordinarily delicate that the least +touch rubs it off. They are fluffs of down almost as frail, in their +soft elegance, as the crystalline edifice of a snowflake before it +touches ground. They are called Bombylii. + +With this fragility of structure is combined an incomparable power of +flight. See this one, hovering motionless two feet above the ground. Her +wings vibrate so rapidly that they appear to be in repose. The insect +looks as though it were hung at one point in space by some invisible +thread. You make a movement; and the Bombylius has disappeared. You cast +your eyes in search of her around you, far away, judging the distance +by the vigour of her flight. There is nothing here, nothing there. Then +where is she? Close by you. Look at the point whence she started: +the Bombylius is there again, hovering motionless. From this aerial +observatory, as quickly recovered as quitted, she inspects the ground, +watching for the favourable moment to establish her egg at the cost of +another creature's destruction. What does she covet for her +offspring: the honey-cupboard, the stores of game, the larvae in their +transformation-sleep? I do not know yet, What I do know is that her +slender legs and her dainty velvet dress do not allow her to make +underground searches. When she has found the propitious place, suddenly +she will swoop down, lay her egg on the surface in that lightning +touch with the tip of her abdomen and straightway fly up again. What I +suspect, for reasons set forth presently, is that the grub that comes +out of the Bombylius' egg must, of its own motion, at its own risk and +peril, reach the victuals which the mother knows to be close at hand. +She has no strength to do more; and it is for the new-born grub to make +its way into the refectory. + +I am better acquainted with the manoeuvres of certain Tachinae, the +tiniest of pale-grey Flies, who, cowering on the sand in the sun, in the +neighbourhood of a burrow, patiently await the hour at which to strike +the fell blow. Let a Bembex-wasp return from the chase, with her +Gad-fly; a Philanthus, with her Bee; a Cerceris, with her Weevil; a +Tachytes, with her Locust: straightway the parasites are there, coming +and going, turning and twisting with the Wasp, always at her rear, +without allowing themselves to be put off by any cautious feints. At the +moment when the huntress goes indoors, with her captured game between +her legs, they fling themselves on her prey, which is on the point of +disappearing underground, and nimbly lay their eggs upon it. The thing +is done in the twinkling of an eye: before the threshold is crossed, +the carcase holds the germs of a new set of guests, who will feed on +victuals not amassed for them and starve the children of the house to +death. + +This other, resting on the burning sand, is also a member of the +Fly tribe; she is an Anthrax. (Cf. "The Life of the Fly": chapter +2.--Translator's Note.) She has wide wings, spread horizontally, half +smoked and half transparent. She wears a dress of velvet, like the +Bombylius, her near neighbour in the official registers; but, though +the soft down is similar in fineness, it is very different in colour. +Anthrax is Greek for coal. It is a happy denomination, reminding us of +the Fly's mourning livery, a coal-black livery with silver tears. The +same deep mourning garbs those parasitic Bees, and these are the only +instances known to me of that violent opposition of dead black and +white. + +Nowadays, when men interpret everything with glorious assurance, when +they explain the Lion's tawny mane as due to the colour of the African +desert, attribute the Tiger's dark stripes to the streaks of shadow cast +by the bamboos and extricate any number of other magnificent things with +the same facility from the mists of the unknown, I should not be sorry +to hear what they have to say of the Melecta, the Crocisa and the +Anthrax and of the origin of their exceptional costume. + +The word 'mimesis' has been invented for the express purpose of +designating the animal's supposed faculty of adapting itself to its +environment by imitating the objects around it, at least in the matter +of colouring. We are told that it uses this faculty to baffle its foes, +or else to approach its prey without alarming it. Finding itself the +better for this dissimulation, a source of prosperity indeed, each race, +sifted by the struggle for life, is considered to have preserved those +best-endowed with mimetic powers and to have allowed the others to +become extinct, thus gradually converting into a fixed characteristic +what at first was but a casual acquisition. The Lark became +earth-coloured in order to hide himself from the eyes of the birds of +prey when pecking in the fields; the Common Lizard adopted a grass-green +tint in order to blend with the foliage of the thickets in which he +lurks; the Cabbage-caterpillar guarded against the bird's beak by taking +the colour of the plant on which it feeds. And so with the rest. + +In my callow youth, these comparisons would have interested me: I was +just ripe for that kind of science. In the evenings, on the straw of the +threshing-floor, we used to talk of the Dragon, the monster which, +to inveigle people and snap them up with greater certainty, became +indistinguishable from a rock, the trunk of a tree, a bundle of twigs. +Since those happy days of artless credulity, scepticism has chilled my +imagination to some extent. By way of a parallel with the three examples +which I have quoted, I ask myself why the White Wagtail, who seeks his +food in the furrows as does the Lark, has a white shirt-front surmounted +by a magnificent black stock. This dress is one of those most easily +picked out at a distance against the rusty colour of the soil. Whence +this neglect to practise mimesis, 'protective mimicry'? He has every +need of it, poor fellow, quite as much as his companion in the fields! + +Why is the Eyed Lizard of Provence as green as the Common Lizard, +considering that he shuns verdure and chooses as his haunt, in the +bright sunlight, some chink in the naked rocks where not so much as a +tuft of moss grows? If, to capture his tiny prey, his brother in the +copses and the hedges thought it necessary to dissemble and consequently +to dye his pearl-embroidered coat, how comes it that the denizen of the +sun-blistered rocks persists in his blue-and-green colouring, which at +once betrays him against the whity-grey stone? Indifferent to mimicry, +is he the less skilful Beetle-hunter on that account, is his race +degenerating? I have studied him sufficiently to be able to declare with +positive certainty that he continues to thrive both in numbers and in +vigour. + +Why has the Spurge-caterpillar adopted for its dress the gaudiest +colours and those which contrast most with the green of the leaves which +it frequents? Why does it flaunt its red, black and white in patches +clashing violently with one another? Would it not be worth its while to +follow the example of the Cabbage-caterpillar and imitate the verdure of +the plant that feeds it? Has it no enemies? Of course it has: which of +us, animals and men, has not? + +A string of these whys could be extended indefinitely. It would give me +amusement, did my time permit me, to counter each example of protective +mimicry with a host of examples to the contrary. What manner of law is +this which has at least ninety-nine exceptions in a hundred cases? Poor +human nature! There is a deceptive agreement between a few actual +facts and the theory which we are so foolishly ready to believe; and +straightway we interpret the facts in the light of the theory. In a +speck of the immense unknown we catch a glimpse of a phantom truth, a +shadow, a will-o'-the-wisp; once the atom is explained, for better or +worse, we imagine that we hold the explanation of the universe and all +that it contains; and we forthwith shout: + +'The great law of Nature! Behold the infallible law!' + +Meanwhile, the discordant facts, an innumerable host, clamour at the +gates of the law, being unable to gain admittance. + +At the door of that infinitely restricted law clamour the great tribe +of Golden Wasps, whose dazzling splendour, worthy of the wealth of +Golconda, clashes with the dingy colour of their haunts. To deceive the +eyes of their bird-tyrants, the Swift, the Swallow, the Chat and the +others, these Chrysis-wasps, who glow like a carbuncle, like a nugget +in the midst of its dark veinstone, certainly do not adapt themselves +to the sand and the clay of their downs. The Green Grasshopper, we are +told, thought out a plan for gulling his enemies by identifying himself +in colour with the grass in which he dwells, whereas the Wasp, so rich +in instinct and strategy, allowed herself to be distanced in the race by +the dull-witted Locust! Rather than adapt herself as the other does, +she persists in her incredible splendour, which betrays her from afar to +every insect-eater and in particular to the little Grey Lizard, who lies +hungrily in wait for her on the old sun-tapestried walls. She remains +ruby, emerald and turquoise amidst her grey environment; and her race +thrives none the worse. + +The enemy that eats you is not the only one to be deceived; mimesis must +also play its colour-tricks on him whom you have to eat. See the Tiger +in his jungle, see the Praying Mantis on her green branch. (For the +Praying Mantis, cf. "Social Life in the Insect World", by J.H. Fabre, +translated by Bernard Miall: chapters 5 to 7.--Translator's Note.) +Astute mimicry is even more necessary when the one to be duped is an +amphitryon at whose cost the parasite's family is to be established. The +Tachinae seem to declare as much: they are grey or greyish, of a colour +as undecided as the dusty soil on which they cower while waiting for the +arrival of the huntress laden with her capture. But they dissemble in +vain: the Bembex, the Philanthus and the others see them from above, +before touching ground; they recognize them perfectly at a distance, +despite their grey costume. And so they hover prudently above the burrow +and strive, by sudden feints, to mislead the traitorous little Fly, who, +on her side, knows her business too well to allow herself to be enticed +away or to leave the spot where the other is bound to return. No, a +thousand times no: clay-coloured though they be, the Tachinae have no +better chance of attaining their ends than a host of other parasites +whose clothing is not of grey frieze to match the locality frequented, +as witness the glittering Chrysis, or the Melecta and the Crocisa, with +their white spots on a black ground. + +We are also told that, the better to cozen his amphitryon, the parasite +adopts more or less the same shape and colouring; he turns himself, in +appearance, into a harmless neighbour, a worker belonging to the +same guild. Instance the Psithyrus, who lives at the expense of the +Bumble-bee. But in what, if you please, does Parnopes carnea resemble +the Bembex into whose home she penetrates in her presence? In what does +the Melecta resemble the Anthophora, who stands aside on her threshold +to let her pass? The difference of costume is most striking. The +Melecta's deep mourning has naught in common with the Anthophora's +russet coat. The Parnopes' emerald-and-carmine thorax possesses not the +least feature of resemblance with the black-and-yellow livery of the +Bembex. And this Chrysis also is a dwarf in comparison with the ardent +Nimrod who goes hunting Gad-flies. + +Besides, what a curious idea, to make the parasite's success depend upon +a more or less faithful likeness with the insect to be robbed! Why, the +imitation would have exactly the opposite effect! With the exception of +the Social Bees, who work at a common task, failure would be certain, +for here, as among mankind, two of a trade never agree. An Osmia, +an Anthophora, a Chalicodoma had better be careful not to poke an +indiscreet head in at her neighbour's door: a sound drubbing would soon +recall her to a sense of the proprieties. She might easily find herself +with a dislocated shoulder or a mangled leg in return for a simple visit +which was perhaps prompted by no evil intention. Each for herself in her +own stronghold. But let a parasite appear, meditating foul play: that's +a very different thing. She can wear the trappings of Harlequin or of a +church-beadle; she can be the Clerus-beetle, in wing-cases of vermilion +with blue trimmings, or the Dioxys-bee, with a red scarf across her +black abdomen, and the mistress of the house will let her have her way, +or, if she become too pressing, will drive her off with a mere flick +of her wing. With her, there is no serious fray, no fierce fight. The +Bludgeon is reserved for the friend of the family. Now go and practice +your mimesis in order to receive a welcome from the Anthophora or the +Chalicodoma! A few hours spent with the insects themselves will turn any +one into a hardened scoffer at these artless theories. + +To sum up, mimesis, in my eyes, is a piece of childishness. Were I not +anxious to remain polite, I should say that it is sheer stupidity; and +the word would express my meaning better. The variety of combinations in +the domain of possible things is infinite. It is undeniable that, here +and there, cases occur in which the animal harmonizes with surrounding +objects. It would even be very strange if such cases were excluded from +actuality, since everything is possible. But these rare coincidences are +faced, under exactly similar conditions, by inconsistencies so strongly +marked and so numerous that, having frequency on their side, they ought, +in all logic, to serve as the basis of the law. Here, one fact says yes; +there, a thousand facts say no. To which evidence shall we lend an ear? +If we only wish to bolster up a theory, it would be prudent to listen +to neither. The how and why escapes us; what we dignify with the +pretentious title of a law is but a way of looking at things with our +mind, a very squint-eyed way, which we adopt for the requirements of our +case. Our would-be laws contain but an infinitesimal shade of reality; +often indeed they are but puffed out with vain imaginings. Such is the +law of mimesis, which explains the Green Grasshopper by the green leaves +in which this Locust settles and is silent as to the Crioceris, that +coral-red Beetle who lives on the no less green leaves of the lily. + +And it is not only a mistaken interpretation: it is a clumsy pitfall +in which novices allow themselves to be caught. Novices, did I say? The +greatest experts themselves fall into the trap. One of our masters of +entomology did me the honour to visit my laboratory. I was showing +my collection of parasites. One of them, clad in black and yellow, +attracted his attention. + +'This,' said he, 'is obviously a parasite of the Wasps.' + +Surprised at the statement, I interposed: + +'By what signs do you know her?' + +'Why look: it's the exact colouring of the Wasp, a mixture of black and +yellow. It is a most striking case of mimesis.' + +'Just so; nevertheless, our black-and-yellow friend is a parasite of the +Chalicodoma of the Walls, who has nothing in common, either in shape or +colour, with the Wasp. This is a Leucopsis, not one of whom enters the +Wasps' nest.' + +'Then mimesis...?' + +'Mimesis is an illusion which we should do well to relegate to +oblivion.' + +And, with the evidence, a whole series of conclusive examples, in front +of him, my learned visitor admitted with a good grace that his first +convictions were based on a most ludicrous foundation. + +A piece of advice to beginners: you will go wrong a thousand times for +once that you are right if, when anxious to obtain a premature sight of +the probable habits of an insect, you take mimesis as your guide. With +mimesis above all, it is wise, when the law says that a thing is black, +first to enquire whether it does not happen to be white. + +Let us go on to more serious subjects and enquire into parasitism +itself, without troubling any longer about the costume of the parasite. +According to etymology, a parasite is one who eats another's bread, one +who lives on the provisions of others. Entomology often alters this term +from its real meaning. Thus it describes as parasites the Chrysis, the +Mutilla, the Anthrax, the Leucopsis, all of whom feed their family not +on the provisions amassed by others, but on the very larvae which have +consumed those provisions, their actual property. When the Tachinae have +succeeded in laying their eggs on the game warehoused by the Bembex, the +burrower's home is invaded by real parasites, in the strict sense of the +word. Around the heap of Gad-flies, collected solely for the children of +the house, new guests force their way, numerous and hungry, and without +the least ceremony plunge into the thick of it. They sit down to a table +that was not laid for them; they eat side by side with the lawful +owner; and this in such haste that he dies of starvation, though he is +respected by the teeth of the interlopers who have gorged themselves on +his portion. + +When the Melecta has substituted her egg for the Anthophora's, here +again we see a real parasite settling in the usurped cell. The pile of +honey laboriously gathered by the mother will not even be broken in upon +by the nurseling for which it was intended. Another will profit by it, +with none to say him nay. Tachinae and Melectae: those are the true +parasites, consumers of others' goods. + +Can we say as much of the Chrysis or the Mutilla? In no wise. The +Scoliae, whose habits are known to us, are certainly not parasites. (The +habits of the Scolia-wasp have been described in different essays not +yet translated into English.--Translator's Note.) No one will accuse +them of stealing the food of others. Zealous workers, they seek and find +under ground the fat grubs on which their family will feed. They follow +the chase by virtue of the same quality as the most renowned hunters, +Cerceris, Sphex or Ammophila; only, instead of removing the game to a +special lair, they leave it where it is, down in the burrow. Homeless +poachers, they let their venison be consumed on the spot where it is +caught. + +In what respect do the Mutilla, the Chrysis, the Leucopsis, the Anthrax +and so many others differ, in their way of living, from the Scolia? It +seems to me, in none. See for yourselves. By an artifice that varies +according to the mother's talent, their grubs, either in the germ-stage +or newly-born, are brought into touch with the victim that is to feed +them: an unwounded victim, for most of them are without a sting; a live +victim, but steeped in the torpor of the coming transformations and thus +delivered without defence to the grub that is to devour it. + +With them, as with the Scoliae, meals are made on the spot on game +legitimately acquired by indefatigable battues or by patient stalking +in which all the rules have been observed; only, the animal hunted is +defenceless and does not need to be laid low with a dagger-thrust. To +seek and find for one's larder a torpid prey incapable of resistance is, +if you like, less meritorious than heroically to stab the strong-jawed +Rose-chafer or Rhinoceros-beetle; but since when has the title of +sportsman been denied to him who blows out the brains of a harmless +Rabbit, instead of waiting without flinching for the furious charge +of the Wild Boar and driving his hunting-knife into him behind his +shoulder? Besides, if the actual assault is without danger, the +approach is attended with a difficulty that increases the merit of these +second-rate poachers. The coveted game is invisible. It is confined in +the stronghold of a cell and moreover protected by the surrounding wall +of a cocoon. Of what prowess must not the mother be capable to determine +the exact spot at which it lies and to lay her egg on its side or at +least close by? For these reasons, I boldly number the Chrysis, the +Mutilla and their rivals among the hunters and reserve the ignoble +title of parasites for the Tachina, the Melecta, the Crocisa, the +Meloe-beetle, in short, for all those who feed on the provisions of +others. + +All things considered, is ignoble the right epithet to apply to +parasitism? No doubt, in the human race, the idler who feeds at other +people's tables is contemptible at all points; but must the animal bear +the burden of the indignation inspired by our own vices? Our parasites, +our scurvy parasites, live at their neighbour's expense: the animal +never; and this changes the whole aspect of the question. I know of +no instance, not one, excepting man, of parasites who consume the +provisions hoarded by a worker of the same species. There may be, here +and there, a few cases of larceny, of casual pillage among hoarders +belonging to the same trade: that I am quite ready to admit, but it does +not affect things. What would be really serious and what I formally +deny is that, in the same zoological species, there should be some who +possessed the attribute of living at the expense of the rest. In vain do +I consult my memory and my notes: my long entomological career does +not furnish me with a solitary example of such a misdeed as that of an +insect leading the life of a parasite upon its fellows. + +When the Chalicodoma of the Sheds works, in her thousands, at her +Cyclopean edifice, each has her own home, a sacred home where not one +of the tumultuous swarm, except the proprietress, dreams of taking +a mouthful of honey. It is as though there were a neighbourly +understanding to respect the others' rights. Moreover, if some heedless +one mistakes her cell and so much as alights on the rim of a cup that +does not belong to her, forthwith the owner appears, admonishes her +severely and soon calls her to order. But, if the store of honey is the +estate of some deceased Bee, or of some wanderer unduly prolonging her +absence, then--and then alone--a kinswoman seizes upon it. The goods +were waste property, which she turns to account; and it is a very proper +economy. The other Bees and Wasps behave likewise: never, I say never, +do we find among them an idler assiduously planning the conquest of her +neighbour's possessions. No insect is a parasite on its own species. + +What then is parasitism, if one must look for it among animals of +different races? Life in general is but a vast brigandage. Nature +devours herself; matter is kept alive by passing from one stomach into +another. At the banquet of life, each is in turn the guest and the dish; +the eater of to-day becomes the eaten of tomorrow; hodie tibi, cras +mihi. Everything lives on that which lives or has lived; everything is +parasitism. Man is the great parasite, the unbridled thief of all that +is fit to eat. He steals the milk from the Lamb, he steals the honey +from the children of the Bee, even as the Melecta pilfers the pottage +of the Anthophora's sons. The two cases are similar. Is it the vice of +indolence? No, it is the fierce law which for the life of the one exacts +the death of the other. + +In this implacable struggle of devourers and devoured, of pillagers and +pillaged, of robbers and robbed, the Melecta deserves no more than we +the title of ignoble; in ruining the Anthophora, she is but imitating +man in one detail, man who is the infinite source of destruction. Her +parasitism is no blacker than ours: she has to feed her offspring; +and, possessing no harvesting-tools, ignorant besides of the art of +harvesting, she uses the provisions of others who are better endowed +with implements and talents. In the fierce riot of empty bellies, she +does what she can with the gifts at her disposal. + + + +CHAPTER 9. THE THEORY OF PARASITISM. + +The Melecta does what she can with the gifts at her disposal. I should +leave it at that, if I had not to take into consideration a grave charge +brought against her. She is accused of having lost, for want of use and +through laziness, the workman's tools with which, so we are told, she +was originally endowed. Finding it to her advantage to do nothing, +bringing up her family free of expense, to the detriment of others, she +is alleged to have gradually inspired her race with an abhorrence for +work. The harvesting-tools, less and less often employed, dwindled +and perished as organs having no function; the species changed into +a different one; and finally idleness turned the honest worker of the +outset into a parasite. This brings us to a very simple and seductive +theory of parasitism, worthy to be discussed with all respect. Let us +set it forth. + +Some mother, nearing the end of her labours and in a hurry to lay her +eggs, found, let us suppose, some convenient cells provisioned by her +fellows. There was no time for nest-building and foraging; if she would +save her family, she must perforce appropriate the fruit of another's +toil. Thus relieved of the tedium and fatigue of work, freed of every +care but that of laying eggs, she left a progeny which duly inherited +the maternal slothfulness and handed this down in its turn, in a more +and more accentuated form, as generation followed on generation; for the +struggle for life made this expeditious way of establishing yourself one +of the most favourable conditions for the success of the offspring. At +the same time, the organs of work, left unemployed, became atrophied and +disappeared, while certain details of shape and colouring were modified +more or less, so as to adapt themselves to the new circumstances. Thus +the parasitic race was definitely established. + +This race, however, was not too greatly transformed for us to be able, +in certain cases, to trace its origin. The parasite has retained more +than one feature of those industrious ancestors. So, for instance, +the Psithyrus is extremely like the Bumble-bee, whose parasite and +descendant she is. The Stelis preserves the ancestral characteristics of +the Anthidium; the Coelioxys-bee recalls the Leaf-cutter. + +Thus speak the evolutionists, with a wealth of evidence derived not only +from correspondence in general appearance, but also from similarity in +the most minute particulars. Nothing is small: I am as much convinced of +that as any man; and I admire the extraordinary precision of the details +furnished as a basis for the theory. But am I convinced? Rightly or +wrongly, my turn of mind does not hold minutiae of structure in great +favour: a joint of the palpi leaves me rather cold; a tuft of bristles +does not appear to me an unanswerable argument. I prefer to question the +creature direct and to let it describe its passions, its mode of life, +its aptitudes. Having heard its evidence, we shall see what becomes of +the theory of parasitism. + +Before calling upon it to speak, why should I not say what I have on my +mind? And mark me, first of all, I do not like that laziness which is +said to favour the animal's prosperity. I have also believed and I still +persist in believing that activity alone strengthens the present and +ensures the future both of animals and men. To act is to live; to work +is to go forward. The energy of a race is measured by the aggregate of +its action. + +No, I do not like it at all, this idleness so much commended of science. +We have quite enough of these zoological brutalities: man, the son of +the Ape; duty, a foolish prejudice; conscience, a lure for the simple; +genius, neurosis; patriotism, jingo heroics; the soul, a product of +protoplasmic energies; God, a puerile myth. Let us raise the war-whoop +and go out for scalps; we are here only to devour one another; the +summum bonum is the Chicago packer's dollar-chest! Enough, quite enough +of that, without having transformism next to break down the sacred law +of work. I will not hold it responsible for our moral ruin; it has not +a sturdy enough shoulder to effect such a breach; but still it has done +its worst. + +No, once more, I do not like those brutalities which, denying all that +gives some dignity to our wretched life, stifle our horizon under an +extinguisher of matter. Oh, don't come and forbid me to think, though it +were but a dream, of a responsible human personality, of conscience, of +duty, of the dignity of labour! Everything is linked together: if the +animal is better off, as regards both itself and its race, for doing +nothing and exploiting others, why should man, its descendant, +show greater scruples? The principle that idleness is the mother of +prosperity would carry us far indeed. I have said enough on my own +account; I will call upon the animals themselves, more eloquent than I. + +Are we so very sure that parasitic habits come from a love of inaction? +Did the parasite become what he is because he found it excellent to +do nothing? Is repose so great an advantage to him that he abjured his +ancient customs in order to obtain it? Well, since I have been studying +the Bee who endows her family with the property of others, I have not +yet seen anything in her that points to slothfulness. On the contrary, +the parasite leads a laborious life, harder than that of the worker. +Watch her on a slope blistered by the sun. How busy she is, how +anxious! How briskly she covers every inch of the radiant expanse, how +indefatigable she is in her endless quests; in her visits, which are +generally fruitless! Before coming upon a nest that suits her, she has +dived a hundred times into cavities of no value, into galleries not +yet victualled. And then, however kindly her host, the parasite is not +always well received in the hostelry. No, it is not all roses in her +trade. The expenditure of time and labour which she finds necessary in +order to house an egg may easily equal or even exceed that of the worker +in building her cell and filling it with honey. That industrious one has +regular and continuous work, an excellent condition for success in her +egg-laying; the other has a thankless and precarious task, at the +mercy of a thousand accidents which endanger the great undertaking of +installing the eggs. One has only to watch the prolonged hesitation of +a Coelioxys seeking for the Leaf-cutters' cells to recognize that +the usurpation of another's nest is not effected without serious +difficulties. If she turned parasite in order to make the rearing of +her offspring easier and more prosperous, certainly she was very +ill-inspired. Instead of rest, hard work; instead of a flourishing +family, a meagre progeny. + +To generalities, which are necessarily vague, we will add some precise +facts. A certain Stelis (Stelis nasuta, LATR.) is a parasite of the +Mason-bee of the Walls. When the Chalicodoma has finished building +her dome of cells upon her pebble, the parasite appears, makes a long +inspection of the outside of the home and proposes, puny as she is, +to introduce her eggs into this cement fortress. Everything is most +carefully closed: a layer of rough plaster, at least two-fifths of an +inch thick, entirely covers the central accumulation of cells, which +are each of them sealed with a thick mortar plug. And it is the honey +of these well-guarded chambers that has to be reached by piercing a wall +almost as hard as rock. + +The parasite pluckily sets to; the idler becomes a glutton for work. +Atom by atom, she perforates the general enclosure and scoops out a +shaft just sufficient for her passage; she reaches the lid of the cell +and gnaws it until the coveted provisions appear in sight. It is a slow +and painful process, in which the feeble Stelis wears herself out, for +the mortar is much the same as Roman cement in hardness. I myself find +a difficulty in breaking it with the point of my knife. What patient +effort, then, the task requires from the parasite, with her tiny +pincers! + +I do not know exactly how long the Stelis takes to make her +entrance-shaft, as I have never had the opportunity or rather the +patience to follow the work from start to finish; but what I do know is +that a Chalicodoma of the Walls, incomparably larger and stronger than +the parasite, when demolishing before my eyes the lid of a cell sealed +only the day before, was unable to complete her undertaking in one +afternoon. I had to come to her assistance in order to discover, +before the end of the day, the object of her housebreaking. When the +Mason-bee's mortar has once set, its resistance is that of stone. Now +the Stelis has not only to pierce the lid of the honey-store; she must +also pierce the general casing of the nest. What a time it must take her +to get through such a task, a gigantic one for her poor tools! + +It is done at last, after infinite labour. The honey appears. The Stelis +slips through and, on the surface of the provisions, side by side +with the Chalicodoma's eggs, the number varying from time to time. The +victuals will be the common property of all the new arrivals, whether +the son of the house or strangers. + +The violated dwelling cannot remain as it is, exposed to marauders from +without; the parasite must herself wall up the breach which she has +contrived. The quondam housebreaker becomes a builder. At the foot +of the pebble, the Stelis collects a little of that red earth which +characterizes our stony plateaus grown with lavender and thyme; she +makes it into mortar by wetting it with saliva; and with the pellets +thus prepared she fills up the entrance-shaft, displaying all the care +and art of a regular master-mason. Only, the work clashes in colour with +the Chalicodoma's. The Bee goes and gathers her cementing-powder on the +adjoining high-road, the metal of which consists of broken flint-stones, +and very seldom uses the red earth under the pebble supporting the +nest. This choice is apparently dictated by the fact that the chemical +properties of the former are more likely to produce a solid structure. +The lime of the road, mixed with saliva, yields a harder cement than red +clay would do. At any rate, the Chalicodoma's nest is more or less +white because of the source of its materials. When a red speck, a few +millimetres wide, appears on this pale background, it is a sure sign +that a Stelis has been that way. Open the cell that lies under the red +stain: we shall find the parasite's numerous family established there. +The rusty spot is an infallible indication that the dwelling has been +violated: at least, it is so in my neighbourhood, where the soil is as I +have described. + +We see the Stelis, therefore, at first a rabid miner, using her +mandibles against the rock; next a kneader of clay and a plasterer +restoring broken ceilings. Her trade does not seem one of the least +arduous. Now what did she do before she took to parasitism? Judging from +her appearance, the transformists tell us that she was an Anthidium, +that is to say, she used to gather the soft cotton-wool from the dry +stalks of the lanate plants and fashion it into wallets, in which to +heap up the pollen-dust which she gleaned from the flowers by means of +a brush carried on her abdomen. Or else, springing from a genus akin +to the cotton-workers, she used to build resin partitions in the spiral +stairway of a dead Snail. Such was the trade driven by her ancestors. + +Really! So, to avoid slow and painful work, to achieve an easy life, to +give herself the leisure favourable to the settlement of her family, +the erstwhile cotton-presser or collector of resin-drops took to gnawing +hardened cement! She who once sipped the nectar of flowers made up her +mind to chew concrete! Why, the poor wretch toils at her filing like a +galley-slave! She spends more time in ripping up a cell than it would +take her to make a cotton wallet and fill it with food. If she really +meant to progress, to do better in her own interest and that of her +family, by abandoning the delicate occupations of the old days, we must +confess that she has made a strange mistake. The mistake would be no +greater if fingers accustomed to fancy-weaving were to lay aside velvet +and silk and proceed to handle the quarryman's blocks or to break stones +on the roadside. + +No, the animal does not commit the folly of voluntarily embittering its +lot; it does not, in obedience to the promptings of idleness, give up +one condition to embrace another and a more irksome; should it blunder +for once, it will not inspire its posterity with a wish to persevere in +a costly delusion. No, the Stelis never abandoned the delicate art of +cotton-weaving to break down walls and to grind cement, a class of work +far too unattractive to efface the memory of the joys of harvesting amid +the flowers. Indolence has not evolved her from an Anthidium. She has +always been what she is to-day: a patient artificer in her own line, a +steady worker at the task that has fallen to her share. + +That hurried mother who first, in remote ages, broke into the abode +of her fellows to secure a home for her eggs found this unscrupulous +method, so you tell us, very favourable to the success of her race, by +virtue of its economy of time and trouble. The impression left by this +new policy was so profound that heredity bequeathed it to posterity, +in ever-increasing proportions, until at last parasitic habits became +definitely fixed. The Chalicodoma of the Sheds, followed by the +Three-horned Osmia, will teach us what to think of this conjecture. + +I have described in an earlier chapter my installation of +Chalicodoma-hives against the walls of a porch facing the south. Here, +on a level with my head, placed so that they can easily be observed, +hang some tiles removed from the neighbouring roofs in winter, together +with their enormous nests and their occupants. Every May, for five or +six years in succession, I have assiduously watched the works of +my Mason-bees. From the mass of my notes on the subject I take the +following experiments which bear upon the matter under discussion. + +Long ago, when I used to scatter a handful of Chalicodomae some way from +home, in order to study their capacity for finding their nest again, +I noticed that, if they were too long absent, the laggards found their +cells closed on their return. Neighbours had taken the opportunity to +lay their eggs there, after finishing the building and stocking it with +provisions. The abandoned property benefited another. On realizing +the usurpation, the Bee returning from her long journey soon consoled +herself for the mishap. She began to break the seals of some cell or +other, adjoining her own; the rest let her have her way, being +doubtless too busy with their present labours to seek a quarrel with the +freebooter. As soon as she had destroyed the lid, the Bee, with a sort +of feverish haste that burned to repay theft by theft, did a little +building, did a little victualling, as though to resume the thread of +her occupations, destroyed the egg in being, laid her own and closed +the cell again. Here was a touch of nature that deserved careful +examination. + +At eleven o'clock in the morning, when the work is at its height, I mark +half-a-score of Chalicodomae with different colours, to distinguish them +from one another. Some are occupied with building, others are disgorging +honey. I mark the corresponding cells in the same way. As soon as the +marks are quite dry, I catch the ten Bees, place them singly in screws +of paper and shut them all in a box until the next morning. After +twenty-four hours' captivity, the prisoners are released. During +their absence, their cells have disappeared under a layer of recent +structures; or, if still exposed to view, they are closed and others +have made use of them. + +As soon as they are free, the ten Bees, with one exception, return to +their respective tiles. They do more than this, so accurate is their +memory, despite the confusion resulting from a prolonged incarceration: +they return to the cell which they have built, the beloved stolen cell; +they minutely explore the outside of it, or at least what lies nearest +to it, if the cell has disappeared under the new structures. In cases +where the home is not henceforward inaccessible, it is at least occupied +by a strange egg and the door is securely fastened. To this reverse of +fortune the ousted ones retort with the brutal lex talionis: an egg for +an egg, a cell for a cell. You've stolen my house; I'll steal yours. +And, without much hesitation, they proceed to force the lid of a cell +that suits them. Sometimes they recover possession of their own home, if +it is possible to get into it; sometimes and more frequently they +seize upon some one else's, even at a considerable distance from their +original dwelling. + +Patiently they gnaw the mortar lid. As the general rough-cast covering +all the cells is not applied until the end of the work, all that they +need do is to demolish the lid, a hard and wearisome task, but not +beyond the strength of their mandibles. They therefore attack the door, +the cement disk, and reduce it to dust. The criminal is allowed to carry +out her nefarious designs without the slightest interference or protest +from any of her neighbours, though these must necessarily include the +chief party interested. The Bee is as forgetful of her cell of yesterday +as she is jealous of her actual cell. To her the present is everything; +the past means nothing; and the future means no more. And so the +population of the tile leave the breakers of doors to do their business +in peace; none hastens to the defence of a home that might well be her +own. How differently things would happen if the cell were still on the +stocks! But it dates back to yesterday, to the day before; and no one +gives it another thought. + +It's done: the lid is demolished; access is free. For some time, the Bee +stands bending over the cell, her head half-buried in it, as though in +contemplation. She goes away, she returns undecidedly; at last she makes +up her mind. The egg is snapped up from the surface of the honey and +flung on the rubbish-heap with no more ceremony than if the Bee were +ridding the house of a bit of dirt. I have witnessed this hideous crime +again and yet again; I confess to having repeatedly provoked it. In +housing her egg, the Mason-bee displays a brutal indifference to the +fate of her neighbour's egg. + +I see some of them afterwards busy provisioning, disgorging honey and +brushing pollen into the cell already completely provisioned; I see some +masoning a little at the orifice, or at least laying on a few trowels of +mortar. It seems as if the Bee, although the victuals and the building +are just as they should be, were resuming the work at the point at which +she left it twenty-four hours before. Lastly, the egg is laid and the +opening closed up. Of my captives, one, less patient than the rest, +rejects the slow process of eating away the cover and decides in favour +of robbery with violence, on the principle that might is right. She +dislodges the owner of a half-stocked cell, keeps good watch for a +long time on the threshold of the home and, when she feels herself +the mistress of the house, goes on with the provisioning. I follow the +ousted proprietress with my eyes. I see her seize upon a closed cell +by breaking into it, behaving in all respects like my imprisoned +Chalicodomae. + +The whole occurrence was too significant to be left without further +confirmation. I repeated the experiment, therefore, almost every year, +always with the same success. I can only add that, among the Bees placed +by my artifices under the necessity of making up for lost time, a few +are of a more easy-going temperament. I see some building anew, as +if nothing out of the way had happened; others--this is a very rare +course--going to settle on another tile, as though to avoid a society +of thieves; and lastly a few who bring pellets of mortar and zealously +finish the lid of their own cell, although it contains a strange egg. +However, housebreaking is the usual thing. + +One more detail not without value: it is not necessary for you to +intervene and imprison Mason-bees for a time in order to witness the +acts of violence which I have described. If you follow the work of the +swarm assiduously, you may occasionally find a surprise awaiting you. A +Mason-bee will appear and, for no reason known to you, break open a door +and lay her egg in the violated cell. From what goes before, I look upon +the Bee as a laggard, kept away from the workyard by an accident, or +else carried to a distance by a gust of wind. On returning after an +absence of some duration, she finds her place taken, her cell used by +another. The victim of an usurper's villainy, like the prisoners in my +paper screws, she behaves as they do and indemnifies herself for her +loss by breaking into another's home. + +Lastly, it was a matter of learning the behaviour, after their act of +violence, of the Masons who have smashed in a door, brutally expelled +the egg within and replaced it by one of their own laying. When the lid +is repaired to look as good as new and everything restored to order, +will they continue their burglarious ways and exterminate the eggs of +others to make room for their own? By no means. Revenge, that pleasure +of the gods and perhaps also of Bees, is satisfied after one cell has +been ripped open. All anger is appeased when the egg for which so much +work has been done is safely housed. Henceforth, both prisoners and +stray laggards resume their ordinary labours, indifferently with the +rest. They build honestly, they provision honestly, nor meditate further +evil. The past is quite forgotten until a fresh disaster occurs. + +To return to the parasites: a mother chanced to find herself the +mistress of another's nest. She took advantage of this to entrust +her egg to it. This expeditious method, so easy for the mother and so +favourable to the success of her offspring, made such an impression on +her that she transmitted the maternal indolence to her posterity. Thus +the worker gradually became transformed into a parasite. + +Capital! The thing goes like clockwork, as long as we have only to put +our ideas on paper. But let us just consult the facts, if you don't +mind; before arguing about probabilities, let us look into things as +they are. Here is the Mason-bee of the Sheds teaching us something very +curious. To smash the lid of a cell that does not belong to her, to +throw the egg out of doors and put her own in its place is a practice +which she has followed since time began. There is no need of my +interference to make her commit burglary: she commits it of her own +accord, when her rights are prejudiced as the result of a too-long +absence. Ever since her race has been kneading cement, she has known the +law of retaliation. Countless ages, such as the evolutionists require, +have made her adopt forcible usurpation as an inveterate habit. +Moreover, robbery is so incomparably easy for the mother. No more cement +to scratch up with her mandibles on the hard ground, no more mortar to +knead, no more clay walls to build, no more pollen to gather on hundreds +and hundreds of journeys. All is ready, board and lodging. Never was a +better opportunity for allowing one's self a good time. There is +nothing against it. The others, the workers, are imperturbable in their +good-humour. Their outraged cells leave them profoundly indifferent. +There are no brawls to fear, no protests. Now or never is the moment to +tread the primrose path. + +Besides, your progeny will be all the better for it. You can choose the +warmest and wholesomest spots; you can multiply your laying-operations +by devoting to them all the time that you would have to spend on irksome +occupations. If the impression produced by the violent seizure of +another's property is strong enough to be handed down by heredity, how +deep should be the impression of the actual moment when the Mason-bee +is in the first flush of success! The precious advantage is fresh in the +memory, dating from that very instant; the mother has but to continue +in order to create a method of installation favourable in the highest +degree to her and hers. Come, poor Bee! Throw aside your exhausting +labours, follow the evolutionists' advice and, as you have the means at +your disposal, become a parasite! + +But no, having effected her little revenge, the builder returns to +her masonry, the gleaner to her gleaning, with unquenchable zeal. She +forgets the crime committed in a moment of anger and takes good care not +to hand down any tendency towards idleness to her offspring. She knows +too well that activity is life, that work is the world's great joy. What +myriads of cells has she not broken open since she has been building; +what magnificent opportunities, all so clear and conclusive, has she +not had to emancipate herself from drudgery! Nothing could convince her: +born to work, she persists in an industrious life. She might at least +have produced an offshoot, a race of housebreakers, who would invade +cells by demolishing doors. The Stelis does something of the kind; but +who would think of proclaiming a relationship between the Chalicodoma +and her? The two have nothing in common. I call for a scion of the +Mason-bee of the Sheds who shall live by the art of breaking through +ceilings. Until they show me one, the theorists will only make me smile +when they talk to me of erstwhile workers relinquishing their trade to +become parasitic sluggards. + +I also call, with no less insistence, for a descendant of the +Three-horned Osmia, a descendant given to demolishing party-walls. I +will describe later how I managed to make a whole swarm of these Osmiae +build their nests on the table in my study, in glass tubes that enabled +me to see the inmost secrets of the work of the Bee. (Cf. "Bramble-bees +and Others", by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de +Mattos: chapters 1 to 7.--Translator's Note.) For three or four weeks, +each Osmia is scrupulously faithful to her tube, which is laboriously +filled with a set of chambers divided by earthen partitions. Marks of +different colours painted on the thorax of the workers enable me +to recognize individuals in the crowd. Each crystal gallery is the +exclusive property of one Osmia; no other enters it, builds in it or +hoards in it. If, through heedlessness, through momentary forgetfulness +of her own house in the tumult of the city, some neighbour so much as +comes and looks in at the door, the owner soon puts her to flight. No +such indiscretion is tolerated. Every Bee has her home and every home +its Bee. + +All goes well until just before the end of the work. The tubes are then +closed at the orifice with a thick plug of earth; nearly the whole swarm +has disappeared; there remain on the spot a score of tatterdemalions in +threadbare fleeces, worn out by a month's hard toil. These laggards have +not finished their laying. There is no lack of unoccupied tubes, for I +take care to remove some of those which are full and to replace them by +others that have not yet been used. Very few of the Bees decide to take +possession of these new homes, which differ in no particular from the +earlier ones; and even then they build only a small number of cells, +which are often mere attempts at partitions. + +They want something different: a nest belonging to some one else. They +bore through the stopper of the inhabited tubes, a work of no great +difficulty, for we have here not the hard cement of the Chalicodoma, but +a simple lid of dried mud. When the entrance is cleared, a cell appears, +with its store of provisions and its egg, with her brutal mandibles; she +rips it open and goes and flings it away. She does worse: she eats it +on the spot. I had to witness this horror many times over before I could +accept it as a fact. Note that the egg devoured may very well contain +the criminal's own offspring. Imperiously swayed by the needs of her +present family, the Osmia puts her past family entirely out of her mind. + +Having perpetrated this child-murder, the depraved creature does a +little provisioning. They all experience the same necessity to go +backwards in the sequence of actions in order to pick up the thread of +their interrupted occupations. Her next work is to lay her egg and then +she conscientiously restores the demolished lid. + +The havoc can be more sweeping still. One of these laggards is not +satisfied with a single cell; she needs two, three, four. To reach +the most remote, the Osmia wrecks all those which come before it. +The partitions are broken down, the eggs eaten or thrown away, the +provisions swept outside and often even carried to a distance in great +lumps. Covered with dust from the loose plaster of the demolition, +floured all over with the rifled pollen, sticky with the contents of the +mangled eggs, the Osmia, while at her brigand's work, is altered beyond +recognition. Once the place is cleared, everything resumes its normal +course. Provisions are laboriously brought to take the place of those +which have been thrown away; eggs are laid, one on each heap of food; +the partitions are built up again; and the massive plug sealing the +whole structure is made as good as new. + +Crimes of this kind recur so often that I am obliged to interfere and +place in safety the nests which I wish to keep intact. And nothing as +yet explains this brigandage, bursting forth at the end of the work like +a moral epidemic, like a frenzied delirium. I should say nothing if the +site were lacking; but the tubes are there, close by, empty and quite +fit to receive the eggs. The Osmia refuses them, she prefers to plunder. +Is it from weariness, from a distaste for work after a period of fierce +activity? Not at all; for, when a row of cells has been stripped of its +contents, after the ravage and waste, she has to come back to ordinary +work, with all its burdens. The labour is not reduced; it is increased. +It would pay the Bee infinitely better, if she wants to continue +her laying, to make her home in an unoccupied tube. The Osmia thinks +differently. Her reasons for acting as she does escape me. Can there +be ill-conditioned characters among her, characters that delight in a +neighbour's ruin? There are among men. + +In the privacy of her native haunts, the Osmia, I have no doubt, behaves +as in my crystal galleries. Towards the end of the building-operations, +she violates others' dwellings. By keeping to the first cell, which it +is not necessary to empty in order to reach the next, she can utilize +the provisions on the spot and shorten to that extent the longest part +of her work. As usurpations of this kind have had ample time to become +inveterate, to become inbred in the race, I ask for a descendant of the +Osmia who eats her grandmother's egg in order to establish her own egg. + +This descendant I shall not be shown; but I may be told that she is in +process of formation. The outrages which I have described are preparing +a future parasite. The transformists dogmatize about the past and +dogmatize about the future, but as seldom as possible talk to us about +the present. Transformations have taken place, transformations will take +place; the pity of it is that they are not actually taking place. Of the +three tenses, one is lacking, the very one which directly interests us +and which alone is clear of the incubus of theory. This silence about +the present does not please me overmuch, scarcely more than the famous +picture of "The Crossing of the Red Sea" painted for a village chapel. +The artist had put upon the canvas a broad ribbon of brightest scarlet; +and that was all. + +'Yes, that's the Red Sea,' said the priest, examining the masterpiece +before paying for it. 'That's the Red Sea, right enough; but where are +the Israelites?' + +'They have passed,' replied the painter. + +'And the Egyptians?' + +'They are on the way.' + +Transformations have passed, transformations are on the way. For mercy's +sake, cannot they show us transformations in the act? Must the facts of +the past and the facts of the future necessarily exclude the facts of +the present? I fail to understand. + +I call for a descendant of the Chalicodoma and a descendant of the Osmia +who have robbed their neighbours with gusto, when occasion offered, +since the origin of their respective races, and who are working +industriously to create a parasite happy in doing nothing. Have they +succeeded? No. Will they succeed? Yes, people maintain. For the moment, +nothing. The Osmiae and Chalicodomae of to-day are what they were when +the first trowel of cement or mud was mixed. Then how many ages does it +take to form a parasite? Too many, I fear, for us not to be discouraged. + +If the sayings of the theorists are well-founded, going on strike and +living by shifts was not always enough to assure parasitism. In certain +cases, the animal must have had to change its diet, to pass from live +prey to vegetarian fare, which would entirely subvert its most essential +characteristics. What should we say to the Wolf giving up mutton and +browsing on grass, in obedience to the dictates of idleness? The boldest +would shrink from such an absurd assumption. And yet transformism leads +us straight to it. + +Here is an example: in July, I split some bramble-stems in which Osmia +tridentata has built her nests. In the long series of cells, the lower +already hold the Osmia's cocoons, while the upper contain the larva +which has nearly finished consuming its provisions and the topmost +show the victuals untouched, with the Osmia's egg upon them. It is a +cylindrical egg, rounded at both extremities, of a transparent white +and measuring four to five millimetres in length. (.156 to.195 +inch.--Translator's Note.) It lies slantwise, one end of it resting on +the food and the other sticking up at some distance above the honey. +Now, by multiplying my visits to the fresh cells, I have on several +occasions made a very valuable discovery. On the free end of the Osmia's +egg, another egg is fixed; an egg quite different in shape, white and +transparent like the first, but much smaller and narrower, blunt at +one end and tapering into a rather sharp point at the other. It is +two millimetres long by half a millimetre wide. (.078 and.019 +inch.--Translator's Note.) It is undeniably the egg of a parasite, a +parasite which compels my attention by its curious method of installing +its family. + +It opens before the Osmia's egg. The tiny grub, as soon as it is born, +begins to drain the rival egg, of which it occupied the top part, high +up above the honey. The extermination soon becomes perceptible. You can +see the Osmia's egg turning muddy, losing its brilliancy, becoming limp +and wrinkled. In twenty-four hours, it is nothing but an empty sheath, +a crumpled bit of skin. All competition is now removed; the parasite is +the master of the house. The young grub, when demolishing the egg, was +active enough: it explored the dangerous thing which had to be got +rid of quickly, it raised its head to select and multiply the +attacking-points. Now, lying at full length on the surface of the honey, +it no longer shifts its position; but the undulations of the digestive +canal betray its greedy absorption of the Osmia's store of food. The +provisions are finished in a fortnight and the cocoon is woven. It is +a fairly firm ovoid, of a very dark-brown colour, two characteristics +which at once distinguish it from the Osmia's pale, cylindrical cocoon. +The hatching takes place in April or May. The puzzle is solved at +last: the Osmia's parasite is a Wasp called the Spotted Sapyga (Sapyga +punctata, V.L.) + +Now where are we to class this Wasp, a true parasite in the strict +sense of the word, that is to say, a consumer of others' provisions. Her +general appearance and her structure make it clear to any eye more or +less familiar with entomological shapes that she belongs to a species +akin to that of the Scoliae. Moreover, the masters of classification, so +scrupulous in their comparison of characteristics, agree in placing the +Sapygae immediately after the Scoliae and a little before the Mutillae. +The Scoliae feed their grubs on prey; so do the Mutillae. The Osmia's +parasite, therefore, if it really derives from a transformed ancestor, +is descended from a flesh-eater, though it is now an eater of honey. The +Wolf does more than become a Sheep: he turns himself into a sweet-tooth. + +'You will never get an apple-tree out of an acorn,' Franklin tells us, +with that homely common-sense of his. + +In this case, the passion for jam must have sprung from a love of +venison. Any theory might well be deficient in balance when it leads to +such vagaries as this. + +I should have to write a volume if I would go on setting forth my +doubts. I have said enough for the moment. Man, the insatiable enquirer, +hands down from age to age his questions about the whys and wherefores +of origins. Answer follows answer, is proclaimed true to-day and +recognized as false tomorrow; and the goddess Isis continues veiled. + + + +CHAPTER 10. THE TRIBULATIONS OF THE MASON-BEE. + +To illustrate the methods of those who batten on others' goods, the +plunderers who know no rest till they have wrought the destruction of +the worker, it would be difficult to find a better instance than the +tribulations suffered by the Chalicodoma of the Walls. The Mason +who builds on the pebbles may fairly boast of being an industrious +workwoman. Throughout the month of May, we see her black squads, in the +full heat of the sun, digging with busy teeth in the mortar-quarry of +the road hard by. So great is her zeal that she hardly moves out of +the way of the passer-by; more than one allows herself to be crushed +underfoot, absorbed as she is in collecting her cement. + +The hardest and driest spots, which still retain the compactness +imparted by the steam-roller, are the favourite veins; and the work of +making the pellet is slow and painful. It is scraped up atom by atom; +and, by means of saliva, turned into mortar then and there. When it is +all well kneaded and there is enough to make a load, the Mason sets off +with an impetuous flight, in a straight line, and makes for her pebble, +a few hundred paces away. The trowel of fresh mortar is soon spent, +either in adding another storey to the turret-shaped edifice, or in +cementing into the wall lumps of gravel that give it greater solidity. +The journeys in search of cement are renewed until the structure attains +the regulation height. Without a moment's rest, the Bee returns a +hundred times to the stone-yard, always to the one spot recognized as +excellent. + +The victuals are now collected: honey and flower-dust. If there is a +pink carpet of sainfoin anywhere in the neighbourhood, 'tis there that +the Mason goes plundering by preference, though it cost her a four +hundred yards' journey every time. Her crop swells with honeyed +exudations, her belly is floured with pollen. Back to the cell, which +slowly fills; and back straightway to the harvest-field. And all day +long, with not a sign of weariness, the same activity is maintained as +long as the sun is high enough. When it is late, if the house is not +yet closed, the Bee retires to her cell to spend the night there, +head downwards, tip of her abdomen outside, a habit foreign to the +Chalicodoma of the Sheds. Then and then alone the Mason rests; but it +is a rest that is in a sense equivalent to work, for, thus placed, she +blocks the entrance to the honey-store and defends her treasure against +twilight or night marauders. + +Being anxious to form some estimate of the total distance covered by the +Bee in the construction and provisioning of a single cell, I counted the +number of steps from a nest to the road where the mortar was mixed and +from the same nest to the sainfoin-field where the harvest was gathered. +I took such note as my patience permitted of the journeys made in both +directions; and, completing these data with a comparison between the +work done and that which remained to do, I arrived at nine and a half +miles as the result of the total travelling. Of course, I give this +figure only as a rough calculation; greater precision would have +demanded more perseverance than I can boast. + +Such as it is, the result, which is probably under the actual figure in +many cases, is of a kind that gives us a vivid idea of the Mason-bee's +activity. The complete nest will comprise about fifteen cells. Moreover, +the heap of cells will be coated at the end with a layer of cement a +good finger's-breadth thick. This massive fortification, which is less +finished than the rest of the work but more expensive in materials, +represents perhaps in itself one half of the complete task, so that, +to establish her dome, Chalicodoma muraria, coming and going across the +arid table-land, traverses altogether a distance of 275 miles, which +is nearly half of the greatest dimension of France from north to south. +Afterwards, when, worn out with all this fatigue, the Bee retires to a +hiding-place to languish in solitude and die, she is surely entitled to +say: + +'I have laboured, I have done my duty!' + +Yes, certainly, the Mason has toiled with a vengeance. To ensure the +future of her offspring, she has spent her own life without reserve, her +long life of five or six weeks' duration; and now she breathes her last, +contented because everything is in order in the beloved house: copious +rations of the first quality; a shelter against the winter frosts; +ramparts against incursions of the enemy. Everything is in order, +at least so she thinks; but, alas, what a mistake the poor mother is +making! Here the hateful fatality stands revealed, aspera fata, which +ruins the producer to provide a living for the drone; here we see the +stupid and ferocious law that sacrifices the worker for the idler's +benefit. What have we done, we and the insects, to be ground with +sovran indifference under the mill-stone of such wretchedness? Oh, what +terrible, what heart-rending questions the Mason-bee's misfortunes would +bring to my lips, if I gave free scope to my sombre thoughts! But let +us avoid these useless whys and keep within the province of the mere +recorder. + +There are some ten of them plotting the ruin of the peaceable and +industrious Bee; and I do not know them all. Each has her own tricks, +her own art of injury, her own exterminating tactics, so that no part of +the Mason's work may escape destruction. Some seize upon the victuals, +others feed on the larvae, others again convert the dwelling to their +own use. Everything has to submit: cell, provisions, scarce-weaned +nurselings. + +The stealers of food are the Stelis-wasp (Stelis nasuta) and the +Dioxys-bee (Dioxys cincta). I have already said how, in the Mason's +absence, the Stelis perforates the dome of cell after cell, lays her +eggs there and afterwards repairs the breach with a mortar made of red +earth, which at once betrays the parasite's presence to a watchful eye. +The Stelis, who is much smaller than the Chalicodoma, finds enough food +in a single cell for the rearing of several of her grubs. The mother +lays a number of eggs, which I have seen vary between the extremes of +two and twelve, on the surface, next to the Mason's egg, which itself +undergoes no outrage whatever. + +Things do not go so badly at first. The feasters swim--it is the +only word--in the midst of plenty; they eat and digest like brothers. +Presently, times become hard for the hostess' son; the food decreases, +dearth sets in; and at length not an atom remains, although the Mason's +larva has attained at most a quarter of its growth. The others, more +expeditious feeders, have exhausted the victuals long before the victim +has finished his normal repast. The swindled grub shrivels up and dies, +while the gorged larvae of the Stelis begin to spin their strong little +brown cocoons, pressed close together and lumped into one mass, so as +to make the best use of the scanty space in the crowded dwelling. Should +you inspect the cell later, you will find, between the heaped cocoons +on the wall, a little dried-up corpse. It is the larva that was such an +object of care to the mother Mason. The efforts of the most laborious of +lives have ended in this lamentable relic. It has happened to me just +as often, when examining the secrets of the cell which is at once cradle +and tomb, not to come upon the deceased grub at all. I picture the +Stelis, before laying her own eggs, destroying the Chalicodoma's egg +and eating it, as the Osmiae do among themselves; or I picture the dying +thing, an irksome mass for the numerous spinners at work in a narrow +habitation, being cut to pieces to make room for the medley of cocoons. +But to so many deeds of darkness I would not like to add another by an +oversight; and I prefer to admit that I failed to perceive the grub that +died of hunger. + +Let us now show up the Dioxys. At the time when the work of construction +is in progress, she is an impudent visitor of the nests, exploiting with +the same effrontery the enormous cities of the Mason-bee of the Sheds +and the solitary cupolas of the Mason-bee of the Pebbles. An innumerable +population, coming and going, humming and buzzing, strikes her with no +awe. On the tiles hanging from the walls of my porch I see her, with +her red scarf round her body, stalking with sublime assurance over the +ridged expanse of nests. Her black schemes leave the swarm profoundly +indifferent; not one of the workers dreams of chasing her off, unless +she should come bothering too closely. Even then, all that happens is +a few signs of impatience on the part of the hustled Bee. There is no +serious excitement, no eager pursuits such as the presence of a mortal +enemy might lead us to suspect. They are there in their thousands, +each armed with her dagger; any one of them is capable of slaying the +traitress; and not one attacks her. The danger is not suspected. + +Meanwhile, she inspects the workyard, moves freely among the ranks of +the Masons and bides her time. If the owner be absent, I see her diving +into a cell, coming out again a moment later with her mouth smeared with +pollen. She has been to try the provisions. A dainty connoisseur, she +goes from one store to another, taking a mouthful of honey. Is it a +tithe for her personal maintenance, or a sample tested for the benefit +of her coming grub? I should not like to say. What I do know is that, +after a certain number of these tastings, I catch her stopping in a +cell, with her abdomen at the bottom and her head at the orifice. This +is the moment of laying, unless I am much mistaken. + +When the parasite is gone, I inspect the home. I see nothing abnormal +on the surface of the mass. The sharper eye of the owner, when she gets +back, sees nothing either, for she continues the victualling without +betraying the least uneasiness. A strange egg, laid on the provisions, +would not escape her. I know how clean she keeps her warehouse; I know +how scrupulously she casts out anything introduced by my agency: an egg +that is not hers, a bit of straw, a grain of dust. So, according to +my evidence and that of the Chalicodoma, which is more conclusive, the +Dioxys's egg, if it is really laid then, is not placed on the surface. + +I suspect, without having yet verified my suspicion--and I reproach +myself for the neglect--I suspect that the egg is buried in the heap of +pollen-dust. When I see the Dioxys come out of a cell with her mouth +all over yellow flour, perhaps she has been surveying the ground and +preparing a hiding-place for her egg. What I take for a mere tasting +might well be a more serious act. Thus concealed, the egg escapes the +eagle eye of the Bee, whereas, if left uncovered, it would inevitably +perish, would be flung on the rubbish heap at once by the owner of +the nest. When the Spotted Sapyga lays her egg on that of the +Bramble-dwelling Osmia, she does the deed under cover of darkness, +in the gloom of a deep well to which not the least ray of light can +penetrate; and the mother, returning with her pellet of green putty +to build the closing partition, does not see the usurping germ and is +ignorant of the danger. But here everything happens in broad daylight; +and this demands more cunning in the method of installation. + +Besides, it is the one favourable moment for the Dioxys. If she waits +for the Mason-bee to lay, it is too late, for the parasite is not able +to break down doors, as the Stelis does. As soon as her egg is laid, the +Mason-bee of the Sheds comes out of her cell and at once turns round and +proceeds to close it up with the pellet of mortar which she holds ready +in her mandibles. The material is employed with such method that the +actual sealing is done in a moment: the other pellets, the object of +repeated journeys, will serve merely to increase the thickness of the +lid. The chamber is inaccessible to the Dioxys from the first touch of +the trowel. Hence it is absolutely necessary for her to see to her +egg before the Mason-bee of the Sheds has disposed of hers and no less +necessary to conceal it from the Mason's watchful eye. + +The difficulties are not so great in the nests of the Mason-bee of the +Pebbles. After this Bee has laid her egg, she leaves it for a time to go +in search of the cement needed for closing the cell; or, if she already +holds a pellet in her mandibles, this is not enough to seal it properly, +as the orifice is larger. More pellets are needed to wall up the +entrance entirely. The Dioxys would have time to strike her blow during +the mother's absences; but everything seems to suggest that she behaves +on the pebbles as she does on the tiles. She steals a march by hiding +the egg in the mass of pollen and honey. + +What becomes of the Mason's egg confined in the same cell with the egg +of the Dioxys? In vain have I opened nests at every season; I have never +found a vestige of the egg nor of the grub of either Chalicodoma. The +Dioxys, whether as a larva on the honey, or enclosed in its cocoon, +or as the perfect insect, was always alone. The rival had disappeared +without a trace. A suspicion thereupon suggests itself; and the facts +are so compelling that the suspicion is almost equal to a certainty. The +parasitic grub, which hatches earlier than the other, emerges from its +hiding-place, from the midst of the honey, comes to the surface and, +with its first bite, destroys the egg of the Mason-bee, as the Sapyga +does the egg of the Osmia. It is an odious, but a supremely efficacious +method. Nor must we cry out too loudly against such foul play on the +part of a new born infant: we shall meet with even more heinous tactics +later. The criminal records of life are full of these horrors which we +dare not search too deeply. An infinitesimal creature, a barely-visible +grub, with the swaddling-clothes of its egg still clinging to it, is led +by instinct, at its first inspiration, to exterminate whatever is in its +way. + +So the Mason's egg is exterminated. Was it really necessary in the +Dioxys' interest? Not in the least. The hoard of provisions is too large +for its requirements in a cell of the Chalicodoma of the Sheds; how +much more so in a cell of the Chalicodoma of the Pebbles! She eats not +a half, hardly a third of it. The rest remains as it was, untouched. We +see here, in the destruction of the Mason's egg, a flagrant waste which +aggravates the crime. Hunger excuses many things; for lack of food, the +survivors on the raft of the Medusa indulged in a little cannibalism; +but here there is enough food and to spare. When there is more than she +needs, what earthly motive impels the Dioxys to destroy a rival in +the germ stage? Why cannot she allow the larva, her mess-mate, to take +advantage of the remains and afterwards to shift for itself as best it +can? But no: the Mason-bee's offspring must needs be stupidly sacrificed +on the top of provisions which will only grow mouldy and useless! I +should be reduced to the gloomy lucubrations of a Schopenhauer if I once +let myself begin on parasitism. + +Such is a brief sketch of the two parasites of the Chalicodoma of the +Pebbles, true parasites, consumers of provisions hoarded on behalf +of others. Their crimes are not the bitterest tribulations of the +Mason-bee. If the first starves the Mason's grub to death, if the second +makes it perish in the egg, there are others who have a more pitiable +ending in store for the worker's family. When the Bee's grub, all plump +and fat and greasy, has finished its provisions and spun its cocoon +wherein to sleep the slumber akin to death, the necessary period of +preparation for its future life, these other enemies hasten to the nests +whose fortifications are powerless against their hideously ingenious +methods. Soon on the sleeper's body lies a nascent grub which feasts in +all security on the luscious fare. The traitors who attack the larvae +in their lethargy are three in number: an Anthrax, a Leucopsis and a +microscopic dagger-wearer. (Monodontomerus cupreus. For this and the +Anthrax, cf. "The Life of the Fly": chapters 2 and 3. The Leucopsis is +a Hymenopteron, the essay upon whom forms the concluding chapter of the +present volume.--Translator's Note.) Their story deserves to be told +without reticence; and I shall tell it later. For the moment, I merely +mention the names of the three exterminators. + +The provisions are stolen, the egg is destroyed. The young grub dies of +hunger, the larva is devoured. Is that all? Not yet. The worker must +be exploited thoroughly, in her work as well as in her family. Here are +some now who covet her dwelling. When the Mason is constructing a new +edifice on a pebble, her almost constant presence is enough to keep the +aspirants to free lodgings at a distance; her strength and vigilance +overawe whoso would annex her masonry. If, in her absence, one greatly +daring thinks of visiting the building, the owner soon appears upon the +scene and ousts her with the most discouraging animosity. She has no +need then to fear the entrance of unwelcome tenants while the house is +new. But the Bee of the Pebbles also uses old dwellings for her laying, +as long as they are not too much dilapidated. In the early stages of +the work, neighbours compete for these with an eagerness which shows +the value attached to them. Face to face, at times with their mandibles +interlocked, now both rising into the air, now coming down again, then +touching ground and rolling over each other, next flying up again, for +hours on end they will wage battle for the property at issue. + +A ready-made nest, a family heirloom which needs but a little restoring, +is a precious thing for the Mason, ever sparing of her time. We find so +many of the old homes repaired and restocked that I suspect the Bee of +laying new foundations only when there are no secondhand nests to be +had. To have the chambers of a dome occupied by a stranger therefore +means a serious privation. + +Now several Bees, however industrious in gathering honey, building +party-walls and contriving receptacles for provisions, are less clever +at preparing the resorts in which the cells are to be stacked. The +abandoned chambers of the Chalicodoma, now larger than they were +originally, through the addition of the hall of exit, are first-rate +acquisitions for them. The great thing is to occupy these chambers +first, for here possession is nine parts of the law. Once established, +the Mason is not disturbed in her home, while she, in her turn, does not +disturb the stranger who has settled down before her in an old nest, +the patrimony of her family. The disinherited one leaves the Bohemian to +enjoy the ruined manor in peace and goes to another pebble to establish +herself at fresh expense. + +In the first rank of these free tenants, I will place an Osmia (Osmia +cyanoxantha, PEREZ) and a Megachile, or Leaf-cutting Bee (Megachile +apicalis, SPIN.) (Cf. "Bramble-dwellers and Others": chapter +8.--Translator's Note.), both of whom work in May, at the same time as +the Mason, while both are small enough to lodge from five to eight +cells in a single chamber of the Chalicodoma, a chamber increased by +the addition of an outer hall. The Osmia subdivides this space into +very irregular compartments by means of slanting, upright or curved +partitions, subject to the dictates of space. There is no art, +consequently, in the accumulation of little cells; the architect's +only task is to use the breadth at her disposal in a frugal manner. The +material employed for the partitions is a green, vegetable putty, which +the Osmia must obtain by chewing the shredded leaves of a plant whose +nature is still uncertain. The same green paste serves for the thick +plug that closes the abode. But in this case the insect does not use it +unadulterated. To give greater power of resistance to the work, it mixes +a number of bits of gravel with the vegetable cement. These materials, +which are easily picked up, are lavishly employed, as though the mother +feared lest she should not fortify sufficiently the entrance to her +dwelling. They form a sort of coarse stucco, on the more or less smooth +cupola of the Chalicodoma; and this unevenness, as well as the green +colouring of its mortar of masticated leaves, at once betrays the +Osmia's nest. In course of time, under the prolonged action of the air, +the vegetable putty turns brown and assumes a dead-leaf tint, especially +on the outside of the plug; and it would then be difficult for any one +who had not seen them when freshly made to recognize their nature. + +The old nests on the pebbles seem to suit other Osmiae. My notes +mention Osmia Morawitzi, PEREZ, and Osmia cyanea, KIRB., as having been +recognized in these dwellings, although they are not very assiduous +visitors. Lastly, to complete the enumeration of the Bees known to me +as making their homes in the Mason's cupolas, I must add Megachile +apicalis, who piles in each cell a half-dozen or more honey-pots +constructed with disks cut from the leaves of the wild rose, and an +Anthidium whose species I cannot state, having seen nothing of her but +her white cotton sacks. + +The Mason-bee of the Sheds, on the other hand, supplies free lodgings +to two species of Osmiae, Osmia tricornis, LATR., and Osmia Latreillii, +SPIN., both of whom are quite common. The Three-horned Osmia frequents +by preference the habitations of the Bees that build their nests +in populous colonies, such as the Chalicodoma of the Sheds and the +Hairy-footed Anthophora. Latreille's Osmia is nearly always found with +the Three-horned Osmia at the Chalicodoma's. + +The real builder of the city and the exploiter of the labour of others +work together, at the same period, form a common swarm and live in +perfect harmony, each Bee of the two species attending to her business +in peace. They share and share alike, as though by tacit agreement. Is +the Osmia discreet enough not to put upon the good-natured Mason and +to utilize only abandoned passages and waste cells? Or does she take +possession of the home of which the real owners could themselves have +made use? I lean in favour of usurpation, for it is not rare to see the +Chalicodoma of the Sheds clearing out old cells and using them as does +her sister of the Pebbles. Be this as it may, all this little busy world +lives without strife, some building anew, others dividing up the old +dwelling. + +Those Osmiae, on the contrary, who are the self-invited guests of the +Mason-bee of the Pebbles are the sole occupants of the dome. The cause +of this isolation lies in the unsociable temper of the proprietress. The +old nest does not suit her from the moment that she sees it occupied +by another. Instead of going shares, she prefers to seek elsewhere a +dwelling where she can work in solitude. Her gracious surrender of a +most excellent lodging in favour of a stranger who would be incapable +of offering the least resistance if a dispute arose proves the great +immunity enjoyed by the Osmia in the home of the worker whom she +exploits. The common and peaceful swarming of the Mason-bee of the Sheds +and the two cell-borrowing Osmiae proves it in a still more positive +fashion. There is never a fight for the acquisition of another's goods +or the defence of one's own property; never a brawl between Osmiae and +Chalicodomae. Robber and robbed live on the most neighbourly terms. The +Osmia considers herself at home; and the other does nothing to undeceive +her. If the parasites, so deadly to the workers, move about in their +very ranks with impunity, without arousing the faintest excitement, an +equally complete indifference must be shown by the dispossessed owners +to the presence of the usurpers in their old homes. I should be greatly +put to it if I were asked to reconcile this calmness on the part of the +expropriated one with the ruthless competition that is said to sway the +world. Fashioned so as to instal herself in the Mason's property, the +Osmia meets with a peaceful reception from her. My feeble eyes can see +no further. + +I have named the provision-thieves, the grub-murderers and the +house-grabbers who levy tribute on the Mason-bee. Does that end the +list? Not at all. The old nests are cities of the dead. They contain +Bees who, on achieving the perfect state, were unable to open the +exit-door through the cement and who withered in their cells; they +contain dead larvae, turned into black, brittle cylinders; untouched +provisions, both mouldy and fresh, on which the egg has come to grief; +tattered cocoons; shreds of skins; relics of the transformation. + +If we remove the nest of the Chalicodoma of the Sheds from its tile--a +nest sometimes quite eight inches thick--we find live inhabitants +only in a thin outer layer. All the remainder, the catacombs of past +generations, is but a horrible heap of dead, shrivelled, ruined, +decomposed things. Into this sub-stratum of the ancient city the +unreleased Bees, the untransformed larvae fall as dust; here the +honey-stores of old go sour, here the uneaten provisions are reduced to +mould. + +Three undertakers, all members of the Beetle tribe, a Clerus, a Ptinus +and an Anthrenus, batten on these remains. The larvae of the Anthrenus +and the Ptinus gnaw the ashes of the corpses; the larva of the Clerus, +with the black head and the rest of its body a pretty pink, appeared to +me to be breaking into the old jam-pots filled with rancid honey. The +perfect insect itself, garbed in vermilion with blue ornaments, is +fairly common on the surface of the clay slabs during the working +season, strolling leisurely through the yard to taste here and there the +drops of honey oozing from some cracked pot. Notwithstanding his showy +livery, so unlike the workers' sombre frieze, the Chalicodomae leave him +in peace, as though they recognized in him the scavenger whose duty it +is to keep the sewers wholesome. + +Ravaged by the passing years, the Mason's home at last falls into ruin +and becomes a hovel. Exposed as it is to the direct action of wind and +weather, the dome built upon a pebble chips and cracks. To repair it +would be too irksome, nor would that restore the original solidity of +the shaky foundation. Better protected by the covering of a roof, the +city of the sheds resists longer, without however escaping eventual +decay. The storeys which each generation adds to those in which it was +born increase the thickness and the weight of the edifice in alarming +proportions. The moisture of the tile filters into the oldest layers, +wrecks the foundations and threatens the nest with a speedy fall. It is +time to abandon for good the house with its cracks and rents. + +Thereupon the crumbling apartments, on the pebble as well as on the +tile, become the home of a camp of gypsies who are not particular where +they find a shelter. The shapeless hovel, reduced to a fragment of a +wall, finds occupants, for the Mason's work must be exploited to the +utmost limits of possibility. In the blind alleys, all that remains of +the former cells, Spiders weave a white-satin screen, behind which they +lie in wait for the passing game. In nooks which they repair in +summary fashion with earthen embankments or clay partitions, Hunting +Wasps--Pompili and Tripoxyla--store up small members of the Spider +tribe, including sometimes the Weaving Spiders who live in the same +ruins. + +I have said nothing yet of the Chalicodoma of the Shrubs. My silence +is not due to negligence, but to the circumstance that I am almost +destitute of facts relating to her parasites. Of the many nests which +I have opened in order to study their inhabitants, only one so far has +been invaded by strangers. This nest, the size of a large walnut, was +fixed on a pomegranate-branch. It comprised eight cells, of which seven +were occupied by the Chalicodoma, and the eighth by a little Chalcis, +the plague of a whole host of the Bee-tribe. Apart from this instance, +which was not a very serious case, I have seen nothing. In those +aerial nests, swinging at the end of a twig, not a Dioxys, a Stelis, +an Anthrax, a Leucopsis, those dread ravagers of the other two Masons; +never any Osmiae, Megachiles or Anthidia, those lodgers in the old +buildings. + +The absence of the latter is easily explained. The Chalicodoma's masonry +does not last long on its frail support. The winter winds, when the +shelter of the foliage has disappeared, must easily break the twig, +which is little thicker than a straw and liable to give way by reason of +its heavy burden. Threatened with an early fall, if it is not already on +the ground, last year's dwelling is not restored to serve the needs of +the present generation. The same nest does not serve twice; and this +does away with the Osmiae and with their rivals in the art of utilizing +old cells. + +The elucidation of this point does not remove the obscurity of the next. +I can see nothing to account for the absence or at least the extreme +rareness of usurpers of provisions and consumers of grubs, both of whom +are very indifferent to the new or old conditions of the nest, so long +as the cells are well stocked. Can it be that the lofty position of the +edifice and the shaky support of the twig arouse distrust in the Dioxys +and other malefactors? For lack of a better explanation, I will leave it +at that. + +If my idea is not an empty fancy, we must admit that the Chalicodoma of +the Shrubs was singularly well-inspired in building in mid-air. You have +seen of what misfortunes the other two are victims. If I take a census +of the population of a tile, many a time I find the Dioxys and the +Mason-bee in almost equal proportions. The parasite has wiped out +half the colony. To complete the disaster, it is not unusual for the +grub-eaters, the Leucopsis and her rival, the pygmy Chalcis, to have +decimated the other half. I say nothing of Anthrax sinuata, whom I +sometimes see coming from the nests of the Chalicodoma of the Sheds; her +larva preys on the Three-horned Osmia, the Mason-bee's visitor. + +All solitary though she be on her boulder, which would seem the proper +thing to keep away exploiters, the scourge of dense populations, the +Chalicodoma of the Pebbles is no less sorely tried. My notes abound in +cases such as the following: of the nine cells in one dome, three are +occupied by the Anthrax, two by the Leucopsis, two by the Stelis, one +by the Chalcis and the ninth by the Mason. It is as though the four +miscreants had joined forces for the massacre: the whole of the Bee's +family has disappeared, all but one young mother saved from the disaster +by her position in the centre of the citadel. I have sometimes stuffed +my pockets with nests removed from their pebbles without finding a +single one that has not been violated by one or other of the malefactors +and oftener still by several of them at a time. It is almost an event +for me to find a nest intact. After these funereal records, I am haunted +by a gloomy thought: the weal of one means the woe of another. + + + +CHAPTER 11. THE LEUCOPSES. + +(This chapter should be read in conjunction with the essays entitled +"The Anthrax" and "Larval Dimorphism", forming chapters 2 and 4 of "The +Life of the Fly."--Translator's Note.) + +Let us visit the nests of Chalicodoma muraria in July, detaching them +from their pebbles with a sideward blow, as I explained when telling the +story of the Anthrax. The Mason-bee's cocoons with two inhabitants, one +devouring, the other in process of being devoured, are numerous enough +to allow me to gather some dozens in the course of a morning, before the +sun becomes unbearably hot. We will give a smart tap to the flints so as +to loosen the clay domes, wrap these up in newspapers, fill our box +and go home as fast as we can, for the air will soon be as fiery as the +devil's kitchen. + +Inspection, which is easier in the shade indoors, soon tells us that, +though the devoured is always the wretched Mason-bee, the devourer +belongs to two different species. In the one case, the cylindrical form, +the creamy-white colouring and the little nipple constituting the head +reveal to us the larva of the Anthrax, which does not concern us at +present; in the other, the general structure and appearance betray the +grub of some Hymenopteron. The Mason's second exterminator is, in fact, +a Leucopsis (Leucopsis gigas, FAB.), a magnificent insect, stripped +black and yellow, with an abdomen rounded at the end and hollowed out, +as is also the back, into a groove to contain a long rapier, as slender +as a horsehair, which the creature unsheathes and drives through the +mortar right into the cell where it proposes to establish its egg. +Before occupying ourselves with its capacities as an inoculator, let us +learn how its larva lives in the invaded cell. + +It is a hairless, legless, sightless grub, easily confused, by +inexperienced eyes, with those of various honey-gathering Hymenoptera. +Its more apparent characteristics consist of a colouring like that +of rancid butter, a shiny and as it were oily skin and a segmentation +accentuated by a series of marked swellings, so that, when looked at +from the side, the back is very plainly indented. When at rest, the +larva is like a bow bending round at one point. It is made up of +thirteen segments, including the head. This head, which is very small +compared with the rest of the body, displays no mouth-part under +the lens; at most you see a faint red streak, which calls for the +microscope. You then distinguish two delicate mandibles, very short and +fashioned into a sharp point. A small round mouth, with a fine piercer +on the right and left, is all that the powerful instrument reveals. As +for my best single magnifying-glasses, they show me nothing at all. On +the other hand, we can quite easily, without arming the eye with a lens, +perceive the mouth-apparatus--and particularly the mandibles--of +either a honey-eater, such as an Osmia, Chalicodoma or Megachile, or +a game-eater, such as a Scolia, Ammophila or Bembex. All these possess +stout pincers, capable of gripping, grinding and tearing. Then what +is the purpose of the Leucopsis' invisible implements? His method of +consuming will tell us. + +Like his prototype, the Anthrax, the Leucopsis does not eat the +Chalicodoma-grub, that is to say, he does not break it up into +mouthfuls; he drains it without opening it and digging into its vitals. +In him again we see exemplified that marvellous art which consists in +feeding on the victim without killing it until the meal is over, so +as always to have a portion of fresh meat. With its mouth assiduously +applied to the unhappy creature's skin, the lethal grub fills itself and +waxes fat, while the fostering larva collapses and shrivels, retaining +just enough life, however, to resist decomposition. All that remains of +the decanted corpse is the skin, which, when softened in water and blown +out, swells into a balloon without the least escape of gas, thus +proving the continuity of the integument. All the same, the apparently +unpunctured bladder has lost its contents. It is a repetition of what +the Anthrax has shown us, with this difference, that the Leucopsis +seems not so well skilled in the delicate work of absorbing the victim. +Instead of the clean white granule which is the sole residue when +the Fly has finished her joint, the insect with the long probe has a +plateful of leavings, not seldom soiled with the brownish tinge of +food that has gone bad. It would seem that, towards the end, the act of +consumption becomes more savage and does not disdain dead meat. I also +notice that the Leucopsis is not able to get up from dinner or to sit +down to it again as readily as the Anthrax. I have sometimes to tease +him with the point of a hair-pencil in order to make him let go; and, +once he has left the joint, he hesitates a little before putting his +mouth to it again. His adhesion is not the mere result of a kiss like +that of a cupping-glass; it can only be explained by hooks that need +releasing. + +I now see the use of the microscopic mandibles. Those two delicate +spikes are incapable of chewing anything, but they may very well serve +to pierce the epidermis with an aperture smaller than that made by the +finest needle; and it is through this puncture that the Leucopsis sucks +the juices of his prey. They are instruments made to perforate the bag +of fat which slowly, without suffering any internal injury, is emptied +through an opening repeated here and there. The Anthrax' cupping-glass +is here replaced by piercers of exceeding sharpness and so short that +they cannot hurt anything beyond the skin. Thus do we see in operation, +with a different sort of implements, that wise system which keeps the +provisions fresh for the consumer. + +It is hardly necessary to say, to those who have read the story of the +Anthrax, that this kind of feeding would be impossible with a victim +whose tissues possessed their final hardness. The Mason-bee's grub is +therefore emptied by the Leucopsis' larva while it is in a semifluid +state and deep in the torpor of the nymphosis. The last fortnight in +July and the first fortnight in August are the best times to witness the +repast, which I have seen going on for twelve and fourteen days. Later, +we find nothing in the Mason-bee's cocoon except the Leucopsis' larva, +gloriously fat, and, by its side, a sort of thin, rancid rasher, the +remains of the deceased wet-nurse. Things then remain as they are until +the hot part of the following summer or at least until the end of June. + +Then appears the nymph, which teaches us nothing striking; and at last +the perfect insect, whose hatching may be delayed until August. Its exit +from the Mason's fortress has no likeness to the strange method employed +by the Anthrax. Endowed with stout mandibles, the perfect insect splits +the ceiling of its abode by itself without much difficulty. At the +time of its deliverance, the Mason-bees, who work in May, have long +disappeared. The nests on the pebbles are all closed, the provisioning +is finished, the larvae are sleeping in their yellow cocoons. As the +old nests are utilized by the Mason so long as they are not too much +dilapidated, the dome which has just been vacated by the Leucopsis, +now more than a year old, has its other cells occupied by the Bee's +children. There is here, without seeking farther, a fat living for the +Leucopsis' offspring which she well knows how to turn to profit. It +depends but on herself to make the house in which she was born into +the residence of her family. Besides, if she has a fancy for distant +exploration, clay domes abound in the harmas. The inoculation of the +eggs through the walls will begin shortly. Before witnessing this +curious performance, let us examine the needle that is to effect it. + +The insect's abdomen is hollowed, at the top, into a furrow that runs up +to the base of the thorax; the end, which is broader and rounded, has a +narrow slit, which seems to divide this region into two. The whole +thing suggests a pulley with a fine groove. When at rest, the +inoculating-needle or ovipositor remains packed in the slit and the +furrow. The delicate instrument thus almost completely encircles the +abdomen. Underneath, on the median line, we see a long, dark-brown +scale, pointed, keel-shaped, fixed by its base to the first abdominal +segment, with its sides prolonged into membranous wings which are +fastened tightly to the insect's flanks. Its function is to protect +the underlying region, a soft-walled region in which the probe has +its source. It is a cuirass, a lid which protects the delicate +motor-machinery during periods of inactivity but swings from back to +front and lifts when the implement has to be unsheathed and used. + +We will now remove this lid with the scissors, so as to have the whole +apparatus before our eyes, and then raise the ovipositor with the point +of a needle. The part that runs along the back comes loose without the +slightest difficulty, but the part embedded in the groove at the end of +the abdomen offers a resistance that warns us of a complication which we +did not notice at first. The tool, in fact, consists of three pieces, +a central piece, or inoculating-filament, and two side-pieces, which +together constitute a scabbard. The two latter are more substantial, +are hollowed out like the sides of a groove and, when uniting, form +a complete groove in which the filament is sheathed. This bivalvular +scabbard adheres loosely to the dorsal part; but, farther on, at the tip +of the abdomen and under the belly, it can no longer be detached, as +its valves are welded to the abdominal wall. Here, therefore, we find, +between the two joined protecting parts, a simple trench in which the +filament lies covered up. As for this filament, it is easily extracted +from its sheath and released down to its base, under the shield formed +by the scale. + +Seen under the magnifying-glass, it is a round, stiff, horny thread, +midway in thickness between a human hair and a horse-hair. Its tip is a +little rough, pointed and bevelled to some length down. The microscope +becomes necessary if we would see its real structure, which is much less +simple than it at first appears. We perceive that the bevelled end-part +consists of a series of truncated cones, fitting one into the other, +with their wide base slightly projecting. This arrangement produces a +sort of file, a sort of rasp with very much blunted teeth. When pressed +on the slide, the thread divides into four pieces of unequal length. The +two longer end in the toothed bevel. They come together in a very narrow +groove, which receives the two other, rather shorter pieces. These both +end in a point, which, however, is not toothed and does not project as +far as the final rasp. They also unite to form a groove, which fits into +the groove of the other two, the whole constituting a complete channel +or duct. Moreover, the two shorter pieces, considered together, can +move, lengthwise, in the groove that receives them; they can also move +one over the other, always lengthwise, so much so that, on the slide of +the microscope, their terminal points are seldom situated on the same +level. + +If with our scissors we cut a piece of the inoculating-thread from the +living insect and examine the section under the magnifying-glass, we +shall see the inner groove lengthen out and project beyond the outer +groove and then go in again in turn, while from the wound there oozes +a tiny albimunous drop, doubtless proceeding from the liquid that gives +the egg the singular appendage to which we shall come presently. By +means of these longitudinal movements of the inner trench inside the +outer trench and of the sliding, one over the other, of the two portions +of the former, the egg can be despatched to the end of the ovipositor +notwithstanding the absence of any muscular contraction, which is +impossible in a horny conduit. + +We have only to press the upper surface of the abdomen to see it +disjoint itself from the first segment, as though the insect had been +cut almost in two at that point. A wide gap or hiatus appears between +the first and second rings; and, under a thin membrane, the base of the +ovipositor bulges out, bent back into a stout hook. Here the filament +passes through the insect from end to end and emerges underneath. Its +issue is therefore near the base of the abdomen, instead of at the tip, +as usual. This curious arrangement has the effect of shortening the +lever-arm of the ovipositor and bringing the starting-point of the +filament nearer to the fulcrum, namely, the legs of the insect, and of +thus assisting the difficult task of inoculation by making the most of +the effort expended. + +To sum up, the ovipositor when at rest goes round the abdomen. Starting +at the base, on the lower surface, it runs round the belly from front to +back and then returns from back to front on the upper surface, where it +ends at almost the same level as its starting-point. Its length is 14 +millimetres. (.546 inch--Translator's Note.) This fixes the limit of the +depth which the probe is able to reach in the Mason-bee's nests. + +One last word on the Leucopsis' weapon. In the dying insect, beheaded, +stripped of legs and wings, with a pin stuck through its body, the sides +of the fissure containing the inoculating-thread quiver violently, as +if the belly were going to open, divide in two along the median line +and then reunite its two halves. The thread itself gives convulsive +tremblings; it comes out of its scabbard, goes back and slips out again. +It is as though the laying-implement could not persuade itself to die +before accomplishing its mission. The insect's supreme aim is the egg; +and, so long as the least spark of life remains, it makes dying efforts +to lay. + +Leucopsis gigas exploits the nests of the Mason-bee of the Pebbles and +the Mason-bee of the Sheds with equal zest. To observe the insertion +of the egg at my ease and to watch the operator at work over and over +again, I gave the preference to the last-named Mason, whose nests, +removed from the neighbouring roofs by my orders, have hung for some +years in the arch of my basement. These clay hives fastened to tiles +supply me with fresh records each summer. I am much indebted to them in +the matter of the Leucopsis' life-history. + +By way of comparison with what took place under my roof, I used to +observe the same scenes on the pebbles of the surrounding wastelands. My +excursions, alas, did not all reward my zeal, which zeal was not +without merit in the merciless sunshine; but still, at rare intervals, +I succeeded in seeing some Leucopsis digging her probe into the mortar +dome. Lying flat on the ground, from the beginning to the end of the +operation, which sometimes lasted for hours, I closely watched the +insect in its every movement, while my Dog, weary of being out of doors +in that scorching heat, would discreetly retire from the fray and, +with his tail between his legs and his tongue hanging out, go home and +stretch himself at full length on the cool tiles of the hall. How wise +he was to scorn this pebble-gazing! I would come in half-roasted, as +brown as a berry, to find my friend Bull wedged into a corner, his +back to the wall, sprawling on all fours, while, with heaving sides, he +panted forth the last sprays of steam from his overheated interior. Yes, +he was much better-advised to return as fast as he could to the shade of +the house. Why does man want to know things? Why is he not indifferent +to them, with the lofty philosophy of the animals? What interest can +anything have for us that does not fill our stomachs? What is the use of +learning? What is the use of truth, when profit is all that matters? +Why am I--the descendant, so they tell me, of some tertiary +Baboon--afflicted with the passion for knowledge from which Bull, my +friend and companion, is exempt? Why...oh, where have I got to? I was +going in, wasn't I, with a splitting headache? Quick, let us get back to +our subject! + +It was in the first week of July that I saw the inoculation begin on +my Chalicodoma sicula nests. The parasite is at her task in the hottest +part of the day, close on three o'clock in the afternoon; and work goes +on almost to the end of the month, decreasing gradually in activity. +I count as many as twelve Leucopses at a time on the most +thickly-populated pair of tiles. The insect slowly and awkwardly +explores the nests. It feels the surface with its antennae, which are +bent at a right angle after the first joint. Then, motionless, with +lowered head, it seems to meditate and to debate within itself on the +fitness of the spot. Is it here or somewhere else that the coveted larva +lies? There is nothing outside, absolutely nothing, to tell us. It is a +stony expanse, bumpy but yet very uniform in appearance, for the cells +have disappeared under a layer of plaster, a work of public interest to +which the whole swarm devotes its last days. If I myself, with my long +experience, had to decide upon the suitable point, even if I were at +liberty to make use of a lens for examining the mortar grain by grain +and to auscultate the surface in order to gather information from the +sound emitted, I should decline the job, persuaded in advance that I +should fail nine times out of ten and only succeed by chance. + +Where my discernment, aided by reason and my optical contrivances, +fails, the insect, guided by the wands of its antennae, never blunders. +Its choice is made. See it unsheathing its long instrument. The probe +points normally towards the surface and occupies nearly the central spot +between the two middle-legs. A wide dislocation appears on the back, +between the first and second segments of the abdomen; and the base of +the instrument swells like a bladder through this opening; while the +point strives to penetrate the hard clay. The amount of energy expended +is shown by the way in which the bladder quivers. At every moment we +expect to see the frail membrane burst with the violence of the effort. +But it does not give way; and the wire goes deeper and deeper. + +Raising itself high on its legs, to give free play to its apparatus, the +insect remains motionless, the only sign of its arduous labours being a +slight vibration. I see some perforators who have finished operating in +a quarter of an hour. These are the quickest at the business. They have +been lucky enough to come across a wall which is less thick and less +hard than usual. I see others who spend as many as three hours on a +single operation, three long hours of patient watching for me, in my +anxiety to follow the whole performance to the end, three long hours of +immobility for the insect, which is even more anxious to make sure of +board and lodging for its egg. But then is it not a task of the utmost +difficulty to introduce a hair into the thickness of a stone? To us, +with all the dexterity of our fingers, it would be impossible; to the +insect, which simply pushes with its belly, it is just hard work. + +Notwithstanding the resistance of the substance traversed, the Leucopsis +perseveres, certain of succeeding; and she does succeed, although I am +still unable to understand her success. The material through which the +probe has to penetrate is not a porous substance; it is homogeneous and +compact, like our hardened cement. In vain do I direct my attention to +the exact point where the instrument is at work; I see no fissure, no +opening that can facilitate access. A miner's drill penetrates the rock +only by pulverizing it. This method is not admissible here; the extreme +delicacy of the implement is opposed to it. The frail stem requires, so +it seems to me, a ready-made way, a crevice through which it can slip; +but this crevice I have never been able to discover. What about a +dissolving fluid which would soften the mortar under the point of the +ovipositor? No, for I see not a trace of humidity around the point where +the thread is at work. I fall back upon a fissure, a lack of continuity +somewhere, although my examination fails to discover any on the +Mason-bee's nest. I was better served in another case. Leucopsis +dorsigera, FAB., settles her eggs on the larva of the Diadem Anthidium, +who sometimes makes her nest in reed-stumps. I have repeatedly seen her +insert her auger through a slight rupture in the side of the reed. +As the wall was different, wood in the latter case and mortar in the +former, perhaps it will be best to look upon the matter as a mystery. + +My sedulous attendance, during the best part of July, in front of the +tiles hanging from the walls of the arch, allowed me to reckon the +inoculations. Each time that the insect, on finishing the operation, +removed its probe, I marked in pencil the exact point at which the +instrument was withdrawn; and I wrote down the date beside it. This +information was to be utilized when the Leucopsis finished her labours. + +When the perforators are gone, I proceed with my examination of the +nests, covered with my hieroglyphics, the pencilled notes. One result, +one which I fully expected, compensates me straightway for all my weary +waitings. Under each spot marked in black, under each spot whence I +saw the ovipositor withdrawn, I always find a cell, with not a single +exception. And yet there are intervals of solid stone between the +cells: the partition-walls alone would account for some. Moreover, the +compartments, which are very irregularly disposed by a swarm of toilers +who all work in their own sweet way, have great irregular cavities +between them, which end by being filled up with the general plastering +of the nest. The result of this arrangement is that the massive portions +cover almost the same space as the hollow portions. There is nothing +outside to show whether the underlying regions are full or empty. It is +quite impossible for me to decide if, by digging straight down, I shall +come to a hollow cell or to a solid wall. + +But the insect makes no mistake: the excavations under my pencil-marks +bear witness to that; it always directs its apparatus towards the hollow +of a cell. How is it apprised whether the part below is empty or full? +Its organs of information are undoubtedly the antennae, which feel the +ground. They are two fingers of unparalleled delicacy, which pry +into the basement by tapping on the part above it. Then what do those +puzzling organs perceive? A smell? Not at all; I always had my doubts of +that and now I am certain of the contrary, after what I shall describe +in a moment. Do they perceive a sound? Are we to treat them as a +superior kind of microphone, capable of collecting the infinitesimal +echoes of what is full and the reverberations of what is empty? It is an +attractive idea, but unfortunately the antennae play their part equally +well on a host of occasions when there are no vaults to reverberate. We +know nothing and are perhaps destined never to know anything of the real +value of the antennal sense, to which we have nothing analogous; but, +though it is impossible for us to say what it does perceive, we are at +least able to recognize to some extent what it does not perceive and, in +particular, to deny it the faculty of smell. + +As a matter of fact, I notice, with extreme surprise, that the great +majority of the cells visited by the Leucopsis' probe do not contain the +one thing which the insect is seeking, namely, the young larva of the +Mason-bee enclosed in its cocoon. Their contents consist of the +refuse so often met with in old Chalicodoma-nests: liquid honey left +unemployed, because the egg has perished; spoilt provisions, sometimes +mildewed, or sometimes a tarry mass; a dead larva, stiffened into a +brown cylinder; the shrivelled corpse of a perfect insect, which lacked +the strength to effect its deliverance; dust and rubbish which has +come from the exit-window afterwards closed up by the outer coating of +plaster. The odoriferous effluvia that can emanate from these relics +certainly possess very diverse characters. A sense of smell with any +subtlety at all would not be deceived by this stuff, sour, 'high,' +musty or tarry as the case may be; each compartment, according to its +contents, has a special aroma, which we might or might not be able to +perceive; and this aroma most certainly bears no resemblance to +that which we may assume the much-desired fresh larva to possess. If +nevertheless the Leucopsis does not distinguish between these various +cells and drives the probe into all of them indifferently, is this not +an evident proof that smell is no guide whatever to her in her search? +Other considerations, when I was treating of the Hairy Ammophila, +enabled me to assert that the antennae have no olfactory powers. To-day, +the frequent mistakes of the Leucopsis, whose antennae are nevertheless +constantly exploring the surface, make this conclusion absolutely +certain. + +The perforator of clay nests has, so it seems to me, delivered us from +an old physiological fallacy. She would deserve studying, if for no +other result than this; but her interest is far from being exhausted. +Let us look at her from another point of view, whose full importance +will not be apparent until the end; let us speak of something which +I was very far from suspecting when I was so assiduously watching the +nests of my Mason-bees. + +The same cell can receive the Leucopsis' probe a number of times, at +intervals of several days. I have said how I used to mark in black the +exact place at which the laying-implement had entered and how I wrote +the date of the operation beside it. Well, at many of these already +visited spots, concerning which I possessed the most authentic +documents, I saw the insect return a second, a third and even a +fourth time, either on the same day or some while after, and drive its +inoculating-thread in again, at precisely the same place, as though +nothing had happened. Was it the same individual repeating her operation +in a cell which she had visited before but forgotten, or different +individuals coming one after the other to lay an egg in a compartment +thought to be unoccupied? I cannot say, having neglected to mark the +operators, for fear of disturbing them. + +As there is nothing, except the mark of my pencil, a mark devoid of +meaning to the insect, to indicate that the auger has already been at +work there, it may easily happen that the same operator, finding under +her feet a spot already exploited by herself but effaced from her +memory, repeats the thrust of her tool in a compartment which she +believes herself to be discovering for the first time. However retentive +its memory for places may be, we cannot admit that the insect remembers +for weeks on end, as well as point by point, the topography of a nest +covering a surface of some square yards. Its recollections, if it have +any, serve it badly; the outward appearance gives it no information; and +its drill enters wherever it may happen to discover a cell, at points +that have already perhaps been pierced several times over. + +It may also happen--and this appears to me the most frequent case--that +one exploiter of a cell is succeeded by a second, a third, a fourth +and others still, all fired with the newcomer's zeal because their +predecessors have left no trace of their passage. In one way or another, +the same cell is exposed to manifold layings, though its contents, the +Chalicodoma-grub, be only the bare ration of a single Leucopsis-grub. + +These reiterated borings are not at all rare: I noted a score of them +on my tiles; and, in the case of some cells, the operation was repeated +before my eyes as often as four times. Nothing tells us that this number +was not exceeded in my absence. The little that I observed prevents me +from fixing any limit. And now a momentous question arises: is the egg +really laid each time that the probe enters a cell? I can see not the +slightest excuse for supposing the contrary. The ovipositor, because of +its horny nature, can have but a very dull sense of touch. The insect +is apprised of the contents of the cell only by the end of that long +horse-hair, a not very trustworthy witness, I should imagine. The +absence of resistance tells it that it has reached an empty space; and +this is probably the only information that the insensible implement can +supply. The drill boring through the rock cannot tell the miner anything +about the contents of the cavern which it has entered; and the case must +be the same with the rigid filament of the Leucopses. + +Now that the thread has reached its goal, what does the cell contain? +Mildewed honey, dust and rubbish, a shrivelled larva, or a larva in good +condition? Above all, does it already contain an egg? This last question +calls for a definite answer, but as a matter of fact it is impossible +for the insect to learn anything from a horse-hair on that most delicate +matter, the presence or absence of an egg, a mere atom of a thing, in +that vast apartment. Even admitting some sense of touch at the end +of the drill, one insuperable difficulty would always remain: that of +finding the exact spot where the tiny speck lies in those spacious and +mysterious regions. I go so far as to believe that the ovipositor tells +the insect nothing, or at any rate very little, of the inside of the +cell, whether propitious or not to the development of the germ. Perhaps +each thrust of the instrument, provided that it meets with no resistance +from solid matter, lays the egg, to whose lot there falls at one time +good, wholesome food, at another mere refuse. + +These anomalies call for more conclusive proofs than the rough +deductions drawn from the nature of the horny ovipositor. We must +ascertain in a direct fashion whether the cell into which the auger has +been driven several times over actually contains several occupants in +addition to the larva of the Mason-bee. When the Leucopses had finished +their borings, I waited a few days longer so as to give the young grubs +time to develop a little, which would make my examination easier. I then +moved the tiles to the table in my study, in order to investigate their +secrets with the most scrupulous care. And here such a disappointment +as I have rarely known awaited me. The cells which I had seen, actually +seen, with my own eyes, pierced by the probe two or three or even four +times, contained but one Leucopsis-grub, one alone, eating away at its +Chalicodoma. Others, which had also been repeatedly probed, contained +spoilt remnants, but never a Leucopsis. O holy patience, give me the +courage to begin again! Dispel the darkness and deliver me from doubt! + +I begin again. The Leucopsis-grub is familiar to me; I can recognize +it, without the possibility of a mistake, in the nests of both the +Chalicodoma of the Pebbles and the Chalicodoma of the Sheds. All through +the winter, I rush about, getting my nests from the roofs of old sheds +and the pebbles of the waste-lands; I stuff my pockets with them, fill +my box, load Favier's knapsack; I collect enough to litter all the +tables in my study; and, when it is too cold out of doors, when the +biting mistral blows, I tear open the fine silk of the cocoons to +discover the inhabitant. Most of them contain the Mason in the perfect +state; others give me the larva of the Anthrax; others--very numerous, +these--give me the larva of the Leucopsis. And this last is +alone, always alone, invariably alone. The whole thing is utterly +incomprehensible when one knows, as I know, how many times the probe +entered those cells. + +My perplexity only increases when, on the return of summer, I witness +for the second time the Leucopsis' repeated operations on the same cells +and for the second time find a single larva in the compartments which +have been bored several times over. Shall I then be forced to accept +that the auger is able to recognize the cells already containing an +egg and that it thenceforth refrains from laying there? Must I admit an +extraordinary sense of touch in that bit of horse-hair, or even better, +a sort of divination which declares where the egg lies without having to +touch it? But I am raving! There is certainly something that escapes +me; and the obscurity of the problem is simply due to my incomplete +information. O patience, supreme virtue of the observer, come to my aid +once more! I must begin all over again for the third time. + +Until now, my investigations have been made some time after the laying, +at a period when the larva is at least fairly developed. Who knows? +Something perhaps happens, at the very commencement of infancy, that may +mislead me afterwards. I must apply to the egg itself if I would +learn the secret which the grub will not reveal. I therefore resume +my observations in the first fortnight of July, when the Leucopses are +beginning to visit busily both Mason-bee's nests. The pebbles in the +waste-lands supply me with plenty of buildings of the Chalicodoma of the +Walls; the byres scattered here and there in the fields give me, under +their dilapidated roofs, in fragments broken off with the chisel, the +edifices of the Chalicodoma of the Sheds. I am anxious not to complete +the destruction of my home hives, already so sorely tried by my +experiments; they have taught me much and can teach me more. Alien +colonies, picked up more or less everywhere, provide me with my booty. +With my lens in one hand and my forceps in the other, I go through my +collection on the same day, with the prudence and care which only the +laboratory-table permits. The results at first fall far short of my +expectations. I see nothing that I have not seen before. I make fresh +expeditions, after a few days' interval; I bring back fresh loads of +lumps of mortar, until at last fortune smiles upon me. + +Reason was not at fault. Each thrust means the laying of an egg when the +probe reaches the cell. Here is a cocoon of the Mason-bee of the Pebbles +with an egg side by side with the Chalicodoma-grub. But what a curious +egg! Never have my eyes beheld the like; and then is it really the egg +of the Leucopsis? Great was my apprehension. But I breathed again when +I found, a couple of weeks later, that the egg had become the larva with +which I was familiar. Those cocoons with a single egg are as numerous as +I can wish; they exceed my wishes: my little glass receptacles are too +few to hold them. + +And here are others, more precious ones still, with manifold layings. +I find plenty with two eggs; I find some with three or four; the +best-colonised offer me as many as five. And, to crown my delight, the +joy of the seeker to whom success comes at the last moment, when he is +on the verge of despair, here again, duly furnished with an egg, is a +sterile cocoon, that is to say, one containing only a shrivelled and +decaying larva. All my suspicions are confirmed, down to the most +inconsequent: the egg housed with a mass of putrefaction. + +The nests of the Mason-bee of the Walls are the more regular in +structure and are easier to examine, because their base is wide open +once it is separated from the supporting pebble; and it was these which +supplied me with by far the greater part of my information. Those of the +Mason-bee of the Sheds have to be chipped away with a hammer before one +can inspect their cells, which are heaped up anyhow; and they do not +lend themselves anything like so well to delicate investigations, as +they suffer both from the shock and the ill-treatment. + +And now the thing is done: it remains certain that the Leucopsis' laying +is exposed to very exceptional dangers. She can entrust the egg to +sterile cells, without provisions fit to use; she can establish several +in the same cell, though this cell contains nourishment for one only. +Whether they proceed from a single individual returning several times, +by inadvertence, to the same place, or are the work of different +individuals unaware of the previous borings, those multiple layings +are very frequent, almost as much so as the normal layings. The largest +which I have noticed consisted of five eggs, but we have no authority +for looking upon this number as an outside limit. Who could say, when +the perforators are numerous, to what lengths this accumulation can +go? I will set forth on some future occasion how the ration of one egg +remains in reality the ration of one egg, despite the multiplicity of +banqueters. + +I will end by describing the egg, which is a white, opaque object, +shaped like a much-elongated oval. One of the ends is lengthened out +into a neck or pedicle, which is as long as the egg proper. This neck is +somewhat wrinkled, sinuous and as a rule considerably curved. The whole +thing is not at all unlike certain gourds with an elongated paunch and +a snake-like neck. The total length, pedicle and all, is about 3 +millimetres. (About one-eighth of an inch.--Translator's Note.) It is +needless to say, after recognizing the grub's manner of feeding, that +this egg is not laid inside the fostering larva. Yet, before I knew +the habits of the Leucopsis, I would readily have believed that every +Hymenopteron armed with a long probe inserts her eggs into the victim's +sides, as the Ichneumon-flies do to the Caterpillars. I mention this for +the benefit of any who may be under the same erroneous impression. + +The Leucopsis' egg is not even laid upon the Mason-bee's larva; it is +hung by its bent pedicle to the fibrous wall of the cocoon. When I go to +work very delicately, so as not to disturb the arrangement in knocking +the nest off its support, and then extract and open the cocoon, I see +the egg swinging from the silken vault. But it takes very little to make +it fall. And so, most often, even though it be merely the effect of the +shock sustained when the nest is removed from its pebble, I find the egg +detached from its suspension-point and lying beside the larva, to which +it never adheres in any circumstances. The Leucopsis' probe does not +penetrate beyond the cocoon traversed; and the egg remains fastened to +the ceiling, in the crook of some silky thread, by means of its hooked +pedicle. + + +INDEX. + +Amazon Ant (see Red Ant). + +Ammophila. + +Ammophila hirsuta (see Hairy Ammophila). + +Ant (see also Black Ant, Red Ant). + +Anthidium (see also Cotton-bee, Diadem Anthidium). + +Anthophora (see also Hairy-footed Anthophora). + +Anthrax (see also Anthrax sinuata). + +Anthrax sinuata. + +Anthrenus. + +Ape. + +Aphis. + +Baboon. + +Bastien. + +Bee. + +Bembex (see also Bembex rostrata). + +Bembex rostrata. + +Black Ant. + +Blanchard, Emile. + +Blue Osmia. + +Bombylius. + +Bumble-bee. + +Butterfly. + +Cabbage-caterpillar. + +Cagliostro. + +Carrier-pigeon. + +Castelnau de la Porte, Francis Comte de. + +Cat. + +Caterpillar (see also Cabbage-caterpillar, Grey Worm, Processionary +Caterpillar, Spurge-caterpillar). + +Cerceris (see also Great Cerceris). + +Cerceris tuberculata (see Great Cerceris). + +Cetonia. + +Chalcis. + +Chalicodoma (see Mason-bee). + +Chalicodoma muraria (see Mason-bee of the Walls). + +Chalicodoma pyrenaica, C. pyrrhopeza, C. rufitarsis, C. sicula (see +Mason-bee of the Sheds). + +Chalicodoma rufescens (see Mason-bee of the Shrubs). + +Chat. + +Chrysis (see also Parnopes carnea, Stilbum calens). + +Clerus. + +Coelyoxis. + +Common Lizard. + +Common Wasp. + +Cornelius Nepos. + +Cotton-bee. + +Cricket. + +Crioceris. + +Crocisa. + +Darwin, Charles Robert. + +Darwin, Erasmus. + +Diadem Anthidium. + +Dioxys. + +Dioxys cincta (see Dioxys). + +Dog. + +Dufour, Jean Marie Leon. + +Duhamel du Monceau, Henri Louis. + +Duruy, Jean Victor. + +Euclid. + +Eumenes Amadei. + +Eyed Lizard. + +Fabre, Mlle. Aglae, the author's daughter. + +Fabre, Mlle. Antonia, the author's daughter. + +Fabre, Mlle. Claire, the author's daughter. + +Fabre, Mlle. Lucie, the author's granddaughter. + +Favier, the author's factotum. + +Fly. + +Franklin, Benjamin. + +Gad-fly. + +Gnat. + +Golden Wasp (see Chrysis). + +Gold-fish. + +Grasshopper (see Green Grasshopper). + +Great Cerceris. + +Green Grasshopper. + +Grey Lizard. + +Grey Worm. + +Hairy Ammophila. + +Hairy-footed Anthophora. + +Halictus. + +Hive-bee. + +Huber, Francois. + +Ichneumon-fly. + +Lacordaire, Jean Theodore. + +Lamb. + +Lark. + +Latreille's Osmia. + +Leaf-cutter (see Megachile). + +Leucopsis. + +Leucopsis dorsigera. + +Leucopsis gigas (see Leucopsis). + +Le Vaillant, Francois. + +Lion. + +Lizard (see Common Lizard, Eyed Lizard, Grey Lizard). + +Locust. + +Loriol, Dr. + +Loriol, Mme. + +Lucas, Pierre Hippolyte. + +Macmillan and Co., Ltd. + +"Mademoiselle Mori", author of. + +Mantis (see Praying Mantis). + +Martin. + +Mason-bee (see also the varieties below). + +Mason-bee of the Pebbles (see Mason-bee of the Walls). + +Mason-bee of the Sheds. + +Mason-bee of the Shrubs. + +Mason-bee of the Walls. + +Megachile. + +Megachile apicalis (see Megachile). + +Melecta. + +Meloe (see Oil-beetle). + +Mesmer. + +Miall, Bernard. + +Monodontomerus cupreus. + +Morawitz' Osmia. + +Moth. + +Mutilla. + +Napoleon III., the Emperor. + +Newton, Sir Isaac. + +Oil-beetle. + +Oryctes. + +Osmia (see also the varieties below). + +Osmia cyanea (see Blue Osmia). + +Osmia cyanoxantha. + +Osmia Latreillii (see Latreille's Osmia). + +Osmia Morawitzi (see Morawitz' Osmia). + +Osmia tricornis (see Three-horned Osmia). + +Osmia tridentata (see Three-pronged Osmia). + +Ox. + +Parnopes carnea. + +Perez, Professor Jean. + +Philanthus apivorus. + +Polyergus rufescens (see Red Ant). + +Pompilus. + +Praying Mantis. + +Processionary Caterpillar. + +Psithyrus. + +Ptinus. + +Rabbit. + +Reaumur, Rene Antoine Ferchault de. + +Red Ant. + +Republican (see Social Weaver-bird). + +Resin-bee. + +Rhinoceros-beetle (see Oryctes). + +Ringed Calicurgus (see Pompilus). + +Rodwell, Miss Frances. + +Rose-chafer (see Cetonia). + +Sacred Beetle. + +Sapyga punctata (see Spotted Sapyga). + +Saw-fly. + +Scolia. + +Sheep. + +Sicilian Mason-bee (see Mason-bee of the Sheds). + +Social Bee (see Hive-bee). + +Social Wasp (see Common Wasp). + +Social Weaver-bird. + +Sphex (see also Yellow-winged Sphex.) + +Spider. + +Spotted Sapyga. + +Spurge-caterpillar. + +Stelis (see also Stelis nasuta). + +Stelis nasuta. + +Stilbum calens. + +Swallow. + +Swift. + +Tachina. + +Tachytes. + +Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander. + +Three-horned Osmia. + +Three-pronged Osmia. + +Tiger. + +Toussenel, Alphonse. + +Tripoxylon. + +Turnip-caterpillar, Turnip-moth (see Grey Worm). + +Wagtail (see White Wagtail). + +Warted Cerceris (see Great Cerceris). + +Wasp (see also Common Wasp). + +Weevil. + +White Wagtail. + +Wild Boar. + +Wolf. + +Yellow-winged Sphex. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mason-bees, by J. 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