The Mason-bees 



eralizatlon. 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 cir- 

 cles 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 en- 

 ables 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 experiences 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 

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