Bramble-bees and Others 



then and there to tell us her trade from her 

 tools. 



Come, be honest: could he? Who would 

 dare put him to such a test? Has personal 

 experience not fully convinced us that the 

 mere examination of the insect can give us no 

 information about the nature of its industry? 

 The baskets on its legs and the brush on its 

 abdomen will certainly tell us that it collects 

 honey and pollen; but its special art will re- 

 main an absolute secret, notwithstanding all 

 the scrutiny of the microscope. In our own 

 industries, the plane denotes the joiner, the 

 trowel the mason, the scissors the tailor, the 

 needle the seamstress. Are things the same 

 in animal industry? Just show us, please, 

 the trowel that is a certain sign of the mason- 

 insect, the chisel that is a positive character- 

 istic of the carpenter-insect, the iron that is 

 an authentic mark of the pinking-insect; and, 

 as you show them, say : 



"This one cuts leaves; that one bores wood; 

 that other mixes cement." 



And so on, naming the trade from the tool. 



You cannot do it, no one can ; the worker's 

 speciality remains an impenetrable secret until 

 direct observation Intervenes. Does not this 



336 



