The Processionary : the Community 



portion is too small for one, what excuse 

 would there be for guests ? 



The 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 1 seem to declare 

 the contrary. We find, for instance, the 

 Mason-bees of the Sheds 2 nesting in myriads 



1 The order of insects embracing the Bees, Wasps, 

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



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

 Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, passim. Translator's 

 Note. 



51 



