The Processionary : the Community 



portion is too small for one, what excuse 

 would there be for guests? 



7he Pine Processionary knows nothing of 

 privation. He knows as little of family ties, 

 another source of unrelenting competition. 

 To make ourselves a place in the sun is but 

 a half of the struggle imposed upon us by 

 life: we must also, as far as possible, pre- 

 pare a place for our successors; and, as the 

 preservation of the species is of greater im- 

 portance than that of the individual, the 

 struggle for the future is even fiercer than the 

 struggle for the present. Every mother re- 

 gards the welfare of her offspring as her pri- 

 mary law. Perish all else, provided that the 

 brood flourish! Every one for himself is her 

 maxim, imposed by the rigours of the general 

 conflict; every one for himself is her rule, the 

 safeguard of the future. 



With maternity and its imperious duties, 

 communism ceases to be practicable. At first 

 sight, certain Hymenoptera^ seem to declare 

 the contrary. We find, for instance, the 

 Mason-bees of the Sheds^ nesting in myriads 



iThe order of insects embracing the Bees, Wasps, 

 Ants, Saw-flies, Ichneumon-flies, etc. — Translator's Note. 



"Cf. The Mason-bees, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by 

 Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, passim. — Translator's 

 Note. 



51 



