Instinct and Discernment 



transitions, by attempts made, abandoned, re- 

 sumed, becoming more and more definite in 

 their results as generation succeeded genera- 

 tion? Or did the Osmia, finding the cut reed 

 that answered her requirements, instal her- 

 self there straightway, scorning her ancient 

 dwelling, the Snail-shell? These questions 

 called for a reply; and they have received one. 

 Let us describe how things happened. 



Near Serignan are some great quarries of 

 coarse limestone, characteristic of the miocene 

 formation of the Rhone valley. These have 

 been worked for many generations. The 

 ancient public buildings of Orange, notably 

 the colossal frontage of the theatre whither 

 all the intellectual world once flocked to hear 

 Sophocles' QLdipus Tyrannus, derive most of 

 their material from these quarries. Other 

 evidence confirms what the similarity of the 

 hewn stone tells us. Among the rubbish that 

 fills up the spaces between the tiers of seats, 

 they occasionally discover the Marseilles obol, 

 a bit of silver stamped with the four-spoked 

 wheel, or a few bronze coins bearing the effigy 

 of Augustus or 1 ibcrius. Scattered also here 

 and there among the monuments of antiquity 

 are heaps of refuse, accumulations of broken 



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