Leaving our village is no very serious matter when we are children. We
even look on it as a sort of holiday. We are going to see something new,
those magic pictures of our dreams. With age come regrets; and the close
of life is spent in stirring up old memories. Then the beloved village
reappears, in the biograph of the mind, embellished, transfigured by the
glow of those first impressions; and the mental image, superior to the
reality, stands out in amazingly clear relief. The past, the far-off
past, was only yesterday; we see it, we touch it.
For my part, after three-quarters of a century, I could walk with my
eyes closed straight to the flat stone where I first heard the soft
chiming note of the Midwife Toad; yes, I should find it to a certainty,
if time, which devastates all things, even the homes of Toads, has not
moved it or perhaps left it in ruins.
I see, on the margin of the brook, the exact position of the alder-trees
whose tangled roots, deep under the water, were a refuge for the
Crayfish. I should say:
'It is just at the foot of that tree that I had the unutterable bliss of
catching a beauty. She had horns so long...and enormous claws, full of
meat, for I got her just at the right time.'
I should go without faltering to the ash under whose shade my heart
beat so loudly one sunny spring morning. I had caught sight of a sort of
white, cottony ball among the branches. Peeping from the depths of
the wadding was an anxious little head with a red hood to it. O what
unparalleled luck! It was a Goldfinch, sitting on her eggs.
Compared with a find like this, lesser events do not count. Let us leave
them. In any case, they pale before the memory of the paternal garden,
a tiny hanging garden of some thirty paces by ten, situated right at
the top of the village. The only spot that overlooks it is a little
esplanade on which stands the old castle (The Chateau de Saint-Leons
standing just outside and above the village of Saint-Leons, where the
author was born in 1823. Cf. "The Life of the Fly": chapters 6 and
7.--Translator's Note.) with the four turrets that have now become
dovecotes. A steep path takes you up to this open space. From my house
on, it is more like a precipice than a slope. Gardens buttressed by
walls are staged in terraces on the sides of the funnel-shaped valley.
Ours is the highest; it is also the smallest.
There are no trees. Even a solitary apple-tree would crowd it. There
is a patch of cabbages, with a border of sorrel, a patch of turnips and
another of lettuces. That is all we have in the way of garden-stuff;
there is no room for more. Against the upper supporting-wall, facing due
south, is a vine-arbour which, at intervals, when the sun is generous,
provides half a basketful of white muscatel grapes. These are a luxury
of our own, greatly envied by the neighbours, for the vine is unknown
outside this corner, the warmest in the village.
A hedge of currant-bushes, the only safeguard against a terrible fall,
forms a parapet above the next terrace. When our parents' watchful eyes
are off us, we lie flat on our stomachs, my brother and I, and look into
the abyss at the foot of the wall bulging under the thrust of the land.
It is the garden of monsieur le notaire.
There are beds with box-borders in that garden; there are pear-trees
reputed to give pears, real pears, more or less good to eat when
they have ripened on the straw all through the late autumn. In our
imagination, it is a spot of perpetual delight, a paradise, but a
paradise seen the wrong way up: instead of contemplating it from below,
we gaze at it from above. How happy they must be with so much space and
all those pears!
We look at the hives, around which the hovering Bees make a sort of
russet smoke. They stand under the shelter of a great hazel. The tree
has sprung up all of itself in a fissure of the wall, almost on the
level of our currant-bushes. While it spreads its mighty branches over
the notary's hives, its roots, at least, are on our land. It belongs to
us. The trouble is to gather the nuts.
I creep along astride the strong branches projecting horizontally into
space. If I slip or if the support breaks, I shall come to grief in the
midst of the angry Bees. I do not slip and the support does not break.
With the bent switch which my brother hands me, I bring the finest
clusters within my reach. I soon fill my pockets. Moving backwards,
still straddling my branch, I recover terra firma. O wondrous days of
litheness and assurance, when, for a few filberts, on a perilous perch
we braved the abyss!
Enough. These reminiscences, so dear to my dreams, do not interest the
reader. Why stir up more of them? I am content to have brought this fact
into prominence: the first glimmers of light penetrating into the dark
chambers of the mind leave an indelible impression, which the years make
fresher instead of dimmer.
Obscured by everyday worries, the present is much less familiar to us,
in its petty details, than the past, with childhood's glow upon it. I
see plainly in my memory what my prentice eyes saw; and I should never
succeed in reproducing with the same accuracy what I saw last week. I
know my village thoroughly, though I quitted it so long ago; and I know
hardly anything of the towns to which the vicissitudes of life have
brought me. An exquisitely sweet link binds us to our native soil; we
are like the plant that has to be torn away from the spot where it put
out its first roots. Poor though it be, I should love to see my own
village again; I should like to leave my bones there.
Does the insect in its turn receive a lasting impression of its earliest
visions? Has it pleasant memories of its first surroundings? We will
not speak of the majority, a world of wandering gipsies who establish
themselves anywhere provided that certain conditions be fulfilled; but
the others, the settlers, living in groups: do they recall their native
village? Have they, like ourselves, a special affection for the place
which saw their birth?
Yes, indeed they have: they remember, they recognize the maternal abode,
they come back to it, they restore it, they colonize it anew. Among many
other instances, let us quote that of the Zebra Halictus. She will show
us a splendid example of love for one's birthplace translating itself
into deeds.
The Halictus' spring family acquire the adult form in a couple of months
or so; they leave the cells about the end of June. What goes on inside
these neophytes as they cross the threshold of the burrow for the
first time? Something, apparently, that may be compared with our own
impressions of childhood. An exact and indelible image is stamped on
their virgin memories. Despite the years, I still see the stone
whence came the resonant notes of the little Toads, the parapet of
currant-bushes, the notary's garden of Eden. These trifles make the best
part of my life. The Halictus sees in the same way the blade of grass
whereon she rested in her first flight, the bit of gravel which her claw
touched in her first climb to the top of the shaft. She knows her
native abode by heart just as I know my village. The locality has become
familiar to her in one glad, sunny morning.
She flies off, seeks refreshment on the flowers near at hand and visits
the fields where the coming harvests will be gathered. The distance does
not lead her astray, so faithful are her impressions of her first trip;
she finds the encampment of her tribe; among the burrows of the village,
so numerous and so closely resembling one another, she knows her own.
It is the house where she was born, the beloved house with its
unforgettable memories.
But, on returning home, the Halictus is not the only mistress of the
house. The dwelling dug by the solitary Bee in early spring remains,
when summer comes, the joint inheritance of the members of the family.
There are ten cells, or thereabouts, underground. Now from these cells
there have issued none but females. This is the rule among the three
species of Halicti that concern us now and probably also among many
others, if not all. They have two generations in each year. The spring
one consists of females only; the summer one comprises both males
and females, in almost equal numbers. We shall return to this curious
subject in our next chapter.
The household, therefore, if not reduced by accidents, above all if not
starved by the usurping Gnat, would consist of half-a-score of sisters,
none but sisters, all equally industrious and all capable of procreating
without a nuptial partner. On the other hand, the maternal dwelling is
no hovel; far from it: the entrance-gallery, the principal room of the
house, will serve quite well, after a few odds and ends of refuse have
been swept away. This will be so much gained in time, ever precious
to the Bee. The cells at the bottom, the clay cabins, are also nearly
intact. To make use of them, it will be enough for the Halictus to
polish up the stucco with her tongue.
Well, which of the survivors, all equally entitled to the succession,
will inherit the house? There are six of them, seven, or more, according
to the chances of mortality. To whose share will the maternal dwelling
fall?
There is no quarrel between the interested parties. The mansion is
recognized as common property without dispute. The sisters come and go
peacefully through the same door, attend to their business, pass and
let the others pass. Down at the bottom of the pit, each has her little
demesne, her group of cells dug at the cost of fresh toil, when the old
ones, now insufficient in number, are occupied. In these recesses,
which are private estates, each mother works by herself, jealous of her
property and of her privacy. Every elsewhere, traffic is free to all.
The exits and entrances in the working fortress provide a spectacle
of the highest interest. A harvester arrives from the fields, the
feather-brushes of her legs powdered with pollen. If the door be open,
the Bee at once dives underground. To tarry on the threshold would mean
waste of time; and the business is urgent. Sometimes, several appear
upon the scene at almost the same moment. The passage is too narrow for
two, especially when they have to avoid any untimely contact that would
make the floury burden fall to the floor. The nearest to the opening
enters quickly. The others, drawn up on the threshold in order of their
arrival, respectful of one another's rights, await their turn. As soon
as the first disappears, the second follows after her and is herself
swiftly followed by the third and then the others, one by one.
Sometimes, again, there is a meeting between a Bee about to come out and
a Bee about to go in. Then the latter draws back a little and makes way
for the former. The politeness is reciprocal. I see some who, when on
the point of emerging from the pit, go down again and leave the passage
free for the one who has just arrived. Thanks to this mutual spirit of
accommodation, the business of the house proceeds without impediment.
Let us keep our eyes open. There is something better than the
well-preserved order of the entrances. When an Halictus appears,
returning from her round of the flowers, we see a sort of trap-door,
which closed the house, suddenly fall and give a free passage. As soon
as the new arrival has entered, the trap rises back into its place,
almost level with the ground, and closes the entrance anew. The same
thing happens when the insects go out. At a request from within, the
trap descends, the door opens and the Bee flies away. The outlet is
closed forthwith.
What can this valve be which, descending or ascending in the cylinder
of the pit, after the fashion of a piston, opens and closes the house
at each departure and at each arrival? It is an Halictus, who has become
the portress of the establishment. With her large head, she makes an
impassable barrier at the top of the entrance-hall. If any one belonging
to the house wants to go in or out, she 'pulls the cord,' that is to
say, she withdraws to a spot where the gallery becomes wider and leaves
room for two. The other passes. She then at once returns to the
orifice and blocks it with the top of her head. Motionless, ever on the
look-out, she does not leave her post save to drive away importunate
visitors.
Let us profit by her brief appearances outside to take a look at her. We
recognize in her an Halictus similar to the others, which are now busy
harvesting; but the top of her head is bald and her dress is dingy
and thread-bare. All the nap is gone; and one can hardly make out
the handsome stripes of red and brown which she used to have. These
tattered, work-worn garments make things clear to us.
This Bee who mounts guard and performs the office of a portress at the
entrance to the burrow is older than the others. She is the foundress of
the establishment, the mother of the actual workers, the grandmother of
the present grubs. In the springtime of her life, three months ago, she
wore herself out in solitary labours. Now that her ovaries are dried
up, she takes a well-earned rest. No, rest is hardly the word. She still
works, she assists the household to the best of her power. Incapable of
being a mother for a second time, she becomes a portress, opens the door
to the members of her family and makes strangers keep their distance.
The suspicious Kid (In La Fontaine's fable, "Le Loup, la Chevre et le
Chevreau."--Translator's Note.), looking through the chink, said to the
Wolf:
'Show me a white foot, or I shan't open the door.'
No less suspicious, the grandmother says to each comer:
'Show me the yellow foot of an Halictus, or you won't be let in.'
None is admitted to the dwelling unless she be recognized as a member of
the family.
See for yourselves. Near the burrow passes an Ant, an unscrupulous
adventuress, who would not be sorry to know the meaning of the honeyed
fragrance that rises from the bottom of the cellar.
"Be off, or you'll catch it!' says the portress, wagging her neck.
As a rule the threat suffices. The Ant decamps. Should she insist,
the watcher leaves her sentry-box, flings herself upon the saucy jade,
buffets her and drives her away. The moment the punishment has been
administered, she returns to her post.
Next comes the turn of a Leaf-cutter (Megachile albocincta, PEREZ),
which, unskilled in the art of burrowing, utilizes, after the manner of
her kin, the old galleries dug by others. Those of the Zebra Halictus
suit her very well, when the terrible Gnat has left them vacant for
lack of heirs. Seeking for a home wherein to stack her robinia-leaf
honey-pots, she often makes a flying inspection of my colonies of
Halicti. A burrow seems to take her fancy; but, before she sets foot on
earth, her buzzing is noticed by the sentry, who suddenly darts out
and makes a few gestures on the threshold of her door. That is all. The
Leaf-cutter has understood. She moves on.
Sometimes, the Megachile has time to alight and insert her head into
the mouth of the pit. In a moment, the portress is there, comes a
little higher and bars the way. Follows a not very serious contest.
The stranger quickly recognizes the rights of the first occupant and,
without insisting, goes to seek an abode elsewhere.
An accomplished marauder (Caelioxys caudata, SPIN.), a parasite of the
Megachile, receives a sound drubbing under my eyes. She thought, the
feather-brain, that she was entering the Leaf-Cutter's establishment!
She soon finds out her mistake; she meets the door-keeping Halictus, who
administers a sharp correction. She makes off at full speed. And so with
the others which, through inadvertence or ambition, seek to enter the
burrow.
The same intolerance exists among the different grandmothers. About the
middle of July, when the animation of the colony is at its height, two
sets of Halicti are easily distinguishable: the young mothers and the
old. The former, much more numerous, brisk of movement and smartly
arrayed, come and go unceasingly from the burrows to the fields and from
the fields to the burrows. The latter, faded and dispirited, wander idly
from hole to hole. They look as though they had lost their way and were
incapable of finding their homes. Who are these vagabonds? I see in them
afflicted ones bereft of a family through the act of the odious Gnat.
Many burrows have been altogether exterminated. At the awakening of
summer, the mother found herself alone. She left her empty house and
went off in search of a dwelling where there were cradles to defend, a
guard to mount. But those fortunate nests already have their overseer,
the foundress, who, jealous of her rights, gives her unemployed
neighbour a cold reception. One sentry is enough; two would merely block
the narrow guard-room.
I am privileged at times to witness a fight between two grandmothers.
When the tramp in quest of employment appears outside the door, the
lawful occupant does not move from her post, does not withdraw into the
passage, as she would before an Halictus returning from the fields. Far
from making way, she threatens the intruder with her feet and mandibles.
The other retaliates and tries to force her way in notwithstanding.
Blows are exchanged. The fray ends by the defeat of the stranger, who
goes off to pick a quarrel elsewhere.
These little scenes afford us a glimpse of certain details of the
highest interest in the habits of the Zebra Halictus. The mother who
builds her nest in the spring no longer leaves her home, once her works
are finished. Shut up at the bottom of the burrow, busied with the
thousand cares of housekeeping, or else drowsing, she waits for her
daughters to come out. When, in the summer heats, the life of the
village recommences, having nought to do outside as a harvester, she
stands sentry at the entrance to the hall, so as to let none in save the
workers of the home, her own daughters. She wards off evilly-disposed
visitors. None can enter without the door-keeper's consent.
There is nothing to tell us that the watcher ever deserts her post. Not
once do I see her leave her house to go and seek some refreshment from
the flowers. Her age and her sedentary occupation, which involves no
great fatigue, perhaps relieve her of the need of nourishment. Perhaps,
also, the young ones returning from their plundering may from time to
time disgorge a drop of the contents of their crops for her benefit. Fed
or unfed, the old one no longer goes out.
But what she does need is the joys of an active family. Many are
deprived of these. The Gnat's burglary has destroyed the busy household.
The sorely-tried Bees abandon the deserted burrow. It is they who,
ragged and careworn, wander through the village. When they move, their
flight is only a short one; more often they remain motionless. It is
they who, soured in their tempers, attack their fellows and seek to
dislodge them. They grow rarer and more languid from day to day; then
they disappear for good. What has become of them? The little Grey Lizard
had his eye on them: they are easily snapped up.
Those settled in their own demesne, those who guard the honey-factory
wherein their daughters, the heiresses of the maternal establishment,
are at work, display wonderful vigilance. The more I see of them, the
more I admire them. In the cool hours of the early morning, when the
pollen-flour is not sufficiently ripened by the sun and while the
harvesters are still indoors, I see them at their posts, at the top of
the gallery. Here, motionless, their heads flush with the earth, they
bar the door to all invaders. If I look at them closely, they retreat a
little and, in the shadow, await the indiscreet observer's departure.
I return when the harvesting is in full swing, between eight o'clock
and twelve. There is now, as the Halicti go in or out, a succession
of prompt withdrawals to open the door and of ascents to close it. The
portress is in the full exercise of her functions.
In the afternoon, the heat is too great and the workers do not go to the
fields. Retiring to the bottom of the house, they varnish the new cells,
they make the round loaf that is to receive the egg. The grandmother is
still upstairs, stopping the door with her bald head. For her, there
is no siesta during the stifling hours: the safety of the household
requires her to forgo it.
I come back again at nightfall, or even later. By the light of a
lantern, I again behold the overseer, as zealous and assiduous as in the
day-time. The others are resting, but not she, for fear, apparently, of
nocturnal dangers known to herself alone. Does she nevertheless end
by descending to the quiet of the floor below? It seems probable, so
essential must rest be, after the fatigue of such a vigil!
It is evident that, guarded in this manner, the burrow is exempt from
calamities similar to those which, too often, depopulate it in May. Let
the Gnat come now, if she dare, to steal the Halictus' loaves! Let her
lie in wait as long as she will! Neither her audacity nor her slyness
will make her escape the lynx eyes of the sentinel, who will put her to
flight with a threatening gesture or, if she persist, crush her with
her nippers. She will not come; and we know the reason: until spring
returns, she is underground in the pupa state.
But, in her absence, there is no lack, among the Fly rabble, of other
batteners on the toil of their fellow insects. Whatever the job,
whatever the plunder, you will find parasites there. And yet, for all
my daily visits, I never catch one of these in the neighbourhood of the
summer burrows. How cleverly the rascals ply their trade! How well aware
are they of the guard who keeps watch at the Halictus' door! There is
no foul deed possible nowadays; and the result is that no Fly puts in an
appearance and the tribulations of last spring are not repeated.
The grandmother who, dispensed by age from maternal bothers, mounts
guard at the entrance of the home and watches over the safety of the
family, tells us that in the genesis of the instincts sudden births
occur; she shows us the existence of a spontaneous aptitude which
nothing, either in her own past conduct or in the actions of her
daughters, could have led us to suspect. Timorous in her prime, in the
month of May, when she lived alone in the burrow of her making, she
has become gifted, in her decline, with a superb contempt of danger and
dares in her impotence what she never dared do in her strength.
Formerly, when her tyrant, the Gnat, entered the house in her presence,
or, more often, stood face to face with her at the entrance, the silly
Bee did not stir, did not even threaten the red-eyed bandit, the dwarf
whose doom she could so easily have sealed. Was it terror on her part?
No, for she attended to her duties with her usual punctiliousness; no,
for the strong do not allow themselves to be thus paralysed by the weak.
It was ignorance of the danger, it was sheer fecklessness.
And behold, to-day, the ignoramus of three months ago knows the peril,
knows it well, without serving any apprenticeship. Every stranger who
appears is kept at a distance, without distinction of size or race.
If the threatening gesture be not enough, the keeper sallies forth and
flings herself upon the persistent one. Cowardice has developed into
courage.
How has this change been brought about? I should like to picture the
Halictus gaining wisdom from the misfortunes of the spring and capable
thenceforth of looking out for danger; I would gladly credit her with
having learnt in the stern school of experience the advantages of a
patrol. I must give up the idea. If, by dint of gradual little acts of
progress, the Bee has achieved the glorious invention of a janitress,
how comes it that the fear of thieves is intermittent? It is true that,
being by herself in May, she cannot stand permanently at her door:
the business of the house takes precedence of everything else. But she
ought, at any rate as soon as her offspring are victimized, to know
the parasite and give chase when, at every moment, she finds her almost
under her feet and even in her house. Yet she pays no attention to her.
The bitter experience of her ancestors, therefore, has bequeathed
nothing to her of a nature to alter her placid character; nor have her
own tribulations aught to do with the sudden awakening of her vigilance
in July. Like ourselves, animals have their joys and their sorrows.
They eagerly make the most of the former; they fret but little about the
latter, which, when all is said, is the best way of achieving a purely
animal enjoyment of life. To mitigate these troubles and protect the
progeny there is the inspiration of instinct, which is able without the
counsels of experience to give the Halicti a portress.
When the victualling is finished, when the Halicti no longer sally forth
on harvesting intent nor return all befloured with their spoils, the old
Bee is still at her post, vigilant as ever. The final preparations for
the brood are made below; the cells are closed. The door will be kept
until everything is finished. Then grandmother and mothers leave the
house. Exhausted by the performance of their duty, they go, somewhere or
other, to die.
In September appears the second generation, comprising both males and
females. I find both sexes wassailing on the flowers, especially the
Compositae, the centauries and thistles. They are not harvesting now:
they are refreshing themselves, holding high holiday, teasing one
another. It is the wedding-time. Yet another fortnight and the males
will disappear, henceforth useless. The part of the idlers is played.
Only the industrious ones remain, the impregnated females, who go
through the winter and set to work in April.
I do not know their exact haunt during the inclement season. I expected
them to return to their native burrow, an excellent dwelling for the
winter, one would think. Excavations made in January showed me my
mistake. The old homes are empty, are falling to pieces owing to the
prolonged effect of the rains. The Zebra Halictus has something better
than these muddy hovels: she has snug corners in the stone-heaps,
hiding-places in the sunny walls and many other convenient habitations.
And so the natives of a village become scattered far and wide.
In April, the scattered ones reassemble from all directions. On the
well-flattened garden-paths a choice is made of the site for their
common labours. Operations soon begin. Close to the first who bores
her shaft there is soon a second one busy with hers; a third arrives,
followed by another and others yet, until the little mounds often touch
one another, while at times they number as many as fifty on a surface of
less than a square yard.
One would be inclined, at first sight, to say that these groups are
accounted for by the insect's recollection of its birthplace, by the
fact that the villagers, after dispersing during the winter, return to
their hamlet. But it is not thus that things happen: the Halictus scorns
to-day the place that once suited her. I never see her occupy the same
patch of ground for two years in succession. Each spring she needs new
quarters. And there are plenty of them.
Can this mustering of the Halicti be due to a wish to resume the old
intercourse with their friends and relations? Do the natives of the same
burrow, of the same hamlet, recognize one another? Are they inclined to
do their work among themselves rather than in the company of strangers?
There is nothing to prove it, nor is there anything to disprove it.
Either for this reason or for others, the Halictus likes to keep with
her neighbours.
This propensity is pretty frequent among peace-lovers, who, needing
little nourishment, have no cause to fear competition. The others, the
big eaters, take possession of estates, of hunting-grounds from which
their fellows are excluded. Ask a Wolf his opinion of a brother Wolf
poaching on his preserves. Man himself, the chief of consumers, makes
for himself frontiers armed with artillery; he sets up posts at the foot
of which one says to the other:
'Here's my side, there's yours. That's enough: now we'll pepper each
other.'
And the rattle of the latest explosives ends the colloquy.
Happy are the peace-lovers. What do they gain by their mustering? With
them it is not a defensive system, a concerted effort to ward off the
common foe. The Halictus does not care about her neighbour's affairs.
She does not visit another's burrow; she does not allow others to
visit hers. She has her tribulations, which she endures alone; she is
indifferent to the tribulations of her kind. She stands aloof from the
strife of her fellows. Let each mind her own business and leave things
at that.
But company has its attractions. He lives twice who watches the life of
others. Individual activity gains by the sight of the general activity;
the animation of each one derives fresh warmth from the fire of the
universal animation. To see one's neighbours at work stimulates one's
rivalry. And work is the great delight, the real satisfaction that gives
some value to life. The Halictus knows this well and assembles in her
numbers that she may work all the better.
Sometimes she assembles in such multitudes and over such extents of
ground as to suggest our own colossal swarms. Babylon and Memphis, Rome
and Carthage, London and Paris, those frantic hives, occur to our mind
if we can manage to forget comparative dimensions and see a Cyclopean
pile in a pinch of earth.
It was in February. The almond-tree was in blossom. A sudden rush of
sap had given the tree new life; its boughs, all black and desolate,
seemingly dead, were becoming a glorious dome of snowy satin. I have
always loved this magic of the awakening spring, this smile of the first
flowers against the gloomy bareness of the bark.
And so I was walking across the fields, gazing at the almond-trees'
carnival. Others were before me. An Osmia in a black velvet bodice and
a red woollen skirt, the Horned Osmia, was visiting the flowers, dipping
into each pink eye in search of a honeyed tear. A very small and very
modestly-dressed Halictus, much busier and in far greater numbers, was
flitting silently from blossom to blossom. Official science calls her
Halictus malachurus, K. The pretty little Bee's godfather strikes me as
ill-inspired. What has malachurus, calling attention to the softness
of the rump, to do in this connection? The name of Early Halictus would
better describe the almond-tree's little visitor.
None of the melliferous clan, in my neighbourhood at least, is stirring
as early as she is. She digs her burrows in February, an inclement
month, subject to sudden returns of frost. When none as yet, even among
her near kinswomen, dares to sally forth from winter-quarters, she
pluckily goes to work, shine the sun ever so little. Like the Zebra
Halictus, she has two generations a year, one in spring and one in
summer; like her, too, she settles by preference in the hard ruts of the
country roads.
Her mole-hills, those humble mounds any two of which would go
easily into a Hen's egg, rise innumerous in my path, the path by the
almond-trees which is the happy hunting-ground of my curiosity to-day.
This path is a ribbon of road three paces wide, worn into ruts by the
Mule's hoofs and the wheels of the farm-carts. A coppice of holm-oaks
shelters it from the north wind. In this Eden with its well-caked soil,
its warmth and quiet, the little Halictus has multiplied her mole-hills
to such a degree that I cannot take a step without crushing some of
them. The accident is not serious: the miner, safe underground, will
be able to scramble up the crumbling sides of the mine and repair the
threshold of the trampled home.
I make a point of measuring the density of the population. I count
from forty to sixty mole-hills on a surface of one square yard. The
encampment is three paces wide and stretches over nearly three-quarters
of a mile. How many Halicti are there in this Babylon? I do not venture
to make the calculation.
Speaking of the Zebra Halictus, I used the words hamlet, village,
township; and the expressions were appropriate. Here the term city
hardly meets the case. And what reason can we allege for these
innumerable clusters? I can see but one: the charm of living together,
which is the origin of society. Like mingles with like, without the
rendering of any mutual service; and this is enough to summon the Early
Halictus to the same way-side, even as the Herring and the Sardine
assemble in the same waters.