The Mason-bees 



dimensions must be decreased; the abdomen, 

 the head and, above all, the wings must be 

 chopped off; and the resistance will be les- 

 sened.^ 



But does this concatenation of Ideas, rudi- 

 mentary though It be, really take place within 

 the insect's brain ? I am convinced of the con- 



^I would gladly, if I were able, cancel some rather 

 hasty lines which I allowed myself to pen in the first vol* 

 ume of these Souvenirs; but scripta manent and all that 

 I can do is to make amends now, in this note, for the 

 error into which I fell. Relying on Lacordaire, who 

 quotes this instance from Erasmus Darwin in his own 

 Introduction a I'entomologie, I believed that a Sphex was 

 given as the heroine of the story. How could I do other- 

 wise, not having the original text in front of me? How 

 could I suspect that an entomologist of Lacordaire's 

 standing should be capable of such a blunder as to substi- 

 tute a Sphex for a Common Wasp? Great was my per- 

 plexity, in the face of this evidence! A Sphex capturing 

 a Fly was an impossibility; and I blamed the British 

 scientist accordingly. But what insect was it that Eras- 

 mus Darwin saw? Calling logic to my aid, I declared 

 that it was a Wasp; and I could not have hit the mark 

 more truly. Charles Darwin, in fact, informed me after- 

 wards that his grandfather wrote, "a Wasp," in his 

 Zoonomia. Though the correction did credit to my intel- 

 ligence, I none the less deeply regretted my mistake, for 

 I had uttered suspicions of the observer's powers of 

 discernment, unjust suspicions which the translator's in- 

 accuracy led me into entertaining. May this note serve to 

 mitigate the harshness of the strictures provoked by my 

 overtaxed credulity. I do not scruple to attack ideas 

 which I consider false; but Heaven forfend that I should 

 ever attack those who uphold them! — Author's Note. 



162 



