X 



CHAPTER IV 



MORE ENQUIRIES INTO MASON-BEES 



THIS chapter and the next were to have 

 taken the form of a letter addressed to 

 Charles Darwin, the illustrious naturalist, who 

 now lies buried beside Newton in Westmin- 

 ster 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 corre- 

 spondence: 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 sci- 

 entific 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 dark- 

 est problem of the hereafter.^ I therefore 

 abandon the epistolary form, which would be 

 unwarranted in view of that grave at West- 

 minster. A free and impersonal statement 



'Darwin died on the 19th of April, 1882, at Down, in 

 Kent — Translator's Note. 



7^ 



