Bramble-bees and Others 



lary. I suppose nothing, I take nothing for 

 granted ; I pkick the brutal fact, the only thing 

 that can be trusted; I record it and then ask 

 myself what conckision rests upon its solid 

 framework. From the fact which I have re- 

 lated we may draw the following inference : 

 "You say that any modification profitable 

 to the animal is transmitted throughout a se- 

 ries of favoured ones who, better equipped 

 with tools, better endowed with aptitudes, 

 abandon the ancient usages and replace the 

 primitive species, the victim of the struggle 

 for life. You declare that once, In the dim 

 distance of the ages, a Bee found herself by 

 accident in possession of a dead Snail-shell. 

 The safe and peaceful lodging pleased her 

 fancy. On and on went the hereditary liking; 

 and the Snail-shell proved more and more 

 agreeable to the insect's descendants, who be- 

 gan to look for it under the stones, so that 

 later generations, with the aid of habit, ended 

 by adopting it as the ancestral dwelling. 

 Again by accident, the Bee happened upon a 

 drop of resin. It was soft, plastic, well- 

 suited for the partitioning of the Snail-shell; 

 it soon hardened into a solid ceiling. The 

 Bee tried the resinous gum and benefited by 



320 



