The Mason-bees 



now taking it to the west, when it believes it- 

 self to be still travelling towards the east. 

 Under the influence of this impression, the in- 

 sect 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 con- 

 firm my hopes. Favier,^ the very man for 

 this sort of information, was the first to put 

 me on the track. He told me that, when peo- 

 ple want to move a Cat from one farm to 

 another at some distance, they place the ani- 

 mal in a bag, which they twirl rapidly at the 

 moment of starting, thus preventing the ani- 

 mal from returning to the house which it has 

 quitted. Many others, besides Favier, de- 

 scribed 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 



^The authors gardener and factotum. Cf. The Life of 

 the Fly: chap. iv. — Translator's Note. 

 76 



