THE SISYPHUS 



instinct needs no assistance. At laying-time the other 

 parent would be in the way. 



Most insects adopt this simple method of upbringing. 

 They merely choose a dining-room which will be the 

 home of the family once it is hatched, or else a place that 

 will allow the young ones to find suitable fare for them- 

 selves. There is no need for the father in such cases. 

 He generally dies without lending the least assistance 

 in the work of setting up his offspring in life. 



Things do not always happen, however, in quite such 

 a primitive fashion. There are tribes that provide a 

 dowry for their families, that prepare board and lodging 

 for them in advance. The Bees and Wasps in particu- 

 lar are masters in the industry of making cellars, jars, 

 and satchels, in which the ration of honey is hoarded: 

 they are perfect in the art of creating burrows stocked 

 with the game that forms the food of their grubs. 



Well, this enormous labour, which is one of building 

 and provisioning combined, this toil in which the insect's 

 whole life is spent, is done by the mother alone. It 

 wears her out ; it utterly exhausts her. The father drunk 

 with sunlight, stands idle at the edge of the workyard, 

 watching his plucky helpmate at her job. 



Why does he not lend the mother a helping hand? It 

 is now or never. Why does he not follow the example 

 of the Swallow couple, both of whom bring their bit of 

 straw, their blob of mortar to the building and their 



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