The Progress of the Race 



from matter, it is still quite material. It 

 is cold, hunger, fear, transformed into 

 something that as yet has no shape. It 

 crawls vaguely around great dangers, 

 around the long nights, the approach 

 of winter, of an equivocal sleep which 

 almost is death. . . . 



[io6] 



The Xylocopae are powerful bees which 

 worm their nest in dry wood. Their life 

 is solitary always. Towards the end of 

 summer, however, some individuals of a 

 particular species, the Xylocopa Cyanes- 

 cens, may be found huddled together in a 

 shivering group, on a stalk of asphodel, 

 to spend the winter in common. Among 

 the Xylocopa this tardy fraternity is ex- 

 ceptional, but among the Ceratinae, which 

 are of their nearest kindred, it has become 

 a constant habit. The idea is germinat- 

 ing. It halts immediately ; and hitherto 



395 



