. The Mason-bees 



very Instant; the mother has but to continue 

 In order to create a method of Installation 

 favourable In the highest degree to her and 

 hers. Come, poor Bee ! Throw aside your 

 exhausting labours, follow the evolutionists' 

 advice and, as you have the means at your 

 disposal, become a parasite ! 



But no, having effected her little revenge, 

 the mason returns to her masonry, the gleaner 

 to her gleaning, with unquenchable zeal. She 

 forgets the crime committed in a moment of 

 anger and takes good care not to hand down 

 any tendency toward idleness to her offspring. 

 She knows too well that acitivity is life, that 

 work is the world's great joy. What myriads 

 of cells has she not broken open since she has 

 been building; what magnificent opportuni- 

 ties, all so clear and conclusive, has she not 

 had to emancipate herself from drudgery! 

 Nothing could convince her: born to work, 

 she persists in an industrious life. She might 

 at least have produced an offshoot, a race of 

 housebreakers, who would invade cells by de- 

 molishing doors. The Stelis does something 

 of the kind; but who would think of proclaim- 

 ing a relationship between the Chalicodoma 

 and her? The two have nothing in common. 

 238 



