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diff --git a/old/msnbs10.txt b/old/msnbs10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f8faf1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/msnbs10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6605 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Mason-Bees, by J. Henri Fabre +#2 in our series by J. Henri Fabre. + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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HENRI FABRE + + + + +TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS, F.Z.S. + + + + +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 Etext of The Mason-Bees, by J. 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