THE ATTAS AT HOME 191 



are born free and equal — which is well; and they 

 remain so — which is what a Buddhist priest once 

 called "gashang" — or so it sounded, and which 

 he explained as a state where plants and animals 

 and men were crystal-like in growth and exist- 

 ence. What a welcome sight it would be to see 

 a Medium mount a bit of twig, antennae a crowd 

 of Minims about him, and start off on a foray 

 of his own! 



We may jeer or condemn the Attas for their 

 hard-shell existence, but there comes to mind 

 again and again, the wonder of it all. Are the 

 hosts of little beings really responsible ; have they 

 not evolved into a pocket, a mental cul-de-sac, a 

 swamping of individuality, pooling their person- 

 alities? And what is it they have gained — what 

 pledge of success in food, in safety, in propaga- 

 tion? They are not separate entities, they have 

 none of the freedom of action, of choice, of in- 

 dividuality of the solitary wasps. They are the 

 somatic cells of the body politic, while deep with- 

 in the nest are the guarded sexual cells — the 

 winged kings and queens, which from time to 

 time, exactly as in isolated organisms, are thrown 

 off to propagate, and to found new nests. They, 

 no less than the workers, are parts of something 



