CHAPTER XII 



THE TRAVELLERS 



T HAVE told in the last chapter how, on 

 the ridges of Mont Ventoux, at a height 

 of nearly 6,000 feet, I had one of those 

 entomological windfalls which would be rich 

 in results if they occurred often enough to 

 serve the purpose of continuous study. Un- 

 fortunately, mine was a solitary instance and 

 I despair of ever repeating it. I can there- 

 fore only base conjectures on it, in the hope 

 that future observers will replace my sur- 

 mises with certainties. 



Under the shelter of a broad, flat stone I 

 discovered some hundreds of Ammophilse 

 (A. hirsuta), heaped one on top of the other 

 almost as closely as the Bees in a swarm. As 

 soon as I lifted the stone, all this little hairy 

 world began to run about, without making 

 any attempt to fly away. I shifted the mass 

 by handfuls: not one of the Wasps looked as 

 though she wished to desert the rest. They 

 seemed indissolubly united by common inter- 

 ests; none of them would go unless all went. 

 233 



