The Mason-bees 



undeniable that, here and there, cases occur 

 in which the animal harmonizes with sur- 

 rounding objects. It would even be very 

 strange if such cases were excluded from 

 actuality, since everything is possible. But 

 these rare coincidences are faced, under ex- 

 actly similar conditions, by inconsistencies so 

 strongly marked and so numerous that, hav- 

 ing frequency on their side, they ought, in all 

 logic, to serve as the basis of the law. Here, 

 one fact says yes; there, a thousand facts say 

 no. To which evidence shall we lend an ear? 

 If we only wish to bolster up a theory, it 

 would be prudent to listen to neither. The 

 how and why escapes us; what we dignify 

 with the pretentious title of a law is but a 

 way of looking at things with our mind, a 

 very squint-eyed way, which we adopt for the 

 requirements of our case. Our would-be laws 

 contain but an infinitesimal shade of reality; 

 often Indeed they are but puffed out with vain 

 imaginings. Such is the law of mimesis, which 

 explains the Green Grasshopper by the green 

 leaves in which this Locust settles and is silent 

 as to the Criocerls, that coral-red Beetle who 

 lives on the no less green leaves of the lily. 

 And it is not only a mistaken interpreta- 

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