THE FALL OF THE YEAR 115 



there is the fine surgery which cuts the link between 

 dying and living and at the same time bandages 

 the wound (recalling quaintly enough the throwing- 

 off of a leg in crab and lobster) ; and there is 

 the "beauty for ashes" due to the breaking up 

 of the chlorophyll and the formation of special 

 decomposition pigments like anthocyan. And, 

 looking ahead, we see the earthworms dragging 

 the fallen leaves into their burrows, and thereby 

 making vegetable mold in which they sometimes, 

 all unconsciously, plant the seeds of future 

 trees. We wonder whether there is in animate 

 Nature any more beautiful sequence of adaptive 

 events. 



The wasps* nest, a model of " efficiency " in the 

 summer-time, is falling into ruins; all the tenants 

 have gone, and intruders are pillaging the edifice. 

 The ranks of the workers were thinned weeks ago 

 by bad weather and cold; the parent queen died 

 of exhaustion; the surviving workers ate up the 

 remaining grubs and died also; the drones likewise 

 disappeared, so now the sole survivors of the colony 

 are the young queens, who, after mating, sought out 

 secluded corners where they have fallen into their 

 " winter sleep." For humble-bees the story is in a 

 general way the same; only the young queens are 

 left, hidden in their winter quarters. Contrast this, 

 however, with hive-bees under man's aegis. The 

 elaboration of the storing instincts, the greater 

 division of labor and solidarity, and the more 

 permanent "hive'' have made it possible for the 



