X THE SPHEX OF LANGUEDOC 139 



single excavation a little below the surface made 

 annually. Such is the case with Cerceris tuberculata 

 and Philanthus apivorus, and even if the inherited 

 dwelling should not be solid enough to resist wind 

 and weather from one year's end to another, and 

 to be handed down to the next generation, at all 

 events the Hymenopteron finds conditions of greater 

 safety in spots consecrated by ancestral experience. 

 There she hollows out galleries, each serving as 

 corridors to a group of cells, thus economising 

 the labour to be expended on the entire egg- 

 laying. 



In this way are formed, not true societies, there 

 being no concerted effort to a common end, but at 

 least gatherings where the sight of other Sphegidae 

 no doubt animates the labour of each. In fact, one 

 can notice between these small tribes, sprung from one 

 and the same stock, and the solitary miners, a difference 

 in activity, recalling in one case the emulation of a 

 populous workshop, and in the other the dulness 

 of labourers in the tedium of isolation. For the 

 animal as well as man activity is contagious, 

 and excited by its own example. Let us sum up. 

 Where there is a moderate weight for the spoiler, 

 it is possible to carry it on the wing for a great 

 distance, and then the Hymenopteron can arrange 

 the burrows at pleasure, choosing by preference its 

 birthplace. From this preference of the birthplace 

 results an agglomeration — a coming together of 

 insects of the same species, whence arises emulation 

 in their work. This first step towards social life is 

 the result of easy journeys. Is it not so with man ? 

 excuse the comparison ! Men, where ways are bad, 



