CHAPTER II 



THE OSMIAE 



"C^EBRUARY has its sunny days, heralding 

 ■'■ spring, to which rude winter will reluct- 

 antly yield place. In snug corners, among 

 the rocks, the great spurge of our district, the 

 characias of the Greeks, the jiisclo of the 

 Provengals, begins to lift its drooping inflor- 

 escence and discreetly opens a few sombre 

 flowers. Here the first Midges of the year 

 will come to slake their thirst. By the time 

 that the tip of the stalks reaches the perpend- 

 icular, the worst of the cold weather will 

 be over. 



Another eager one, the Almond-tree, risk- 

 ing the loss of its fruit, hastens to echo these 

 preludes to the festival of the sun, preludes 

 which are too often treacherous. A few days 

 of soft skies and it becomes a glorious dome 

 of white flowers, each twinkling with a roseate 

 eye. The country, which still lacks green, 

 seems dotted everywhere with white-satin pa- 

 s' 



