Bramble-bees and Others 



society, made up of neighbours and not of 

 fellow-workers. 



Operations begin in April, most unobtru- 

 sively, the only sign of the underground works 

 being the little mounds of fresh earth. There 

 is no animation in the building-yards. The la- 

 bourers show themselves very seldom, so busy 

 are they at the bottom of their pits. At mo- 

 ments, here and there, the summit of a tiny 

 mole-hill begins to totter and tumbles down 

 the slopes of the cone : it is a worker coming 

 up with her armful of rubbish and shooting it 

 outside, without showing herself in the open. 

 Nothing more for the moment. 



There is one precaution to be taken: the 

 villages must be protected against the passers- 

 by, who might inadvertently trample them 

 under foot. I surround each of them with a 

 palisade of reed-stumps. In the centre I plant 

 a danger-signal, a post with a paper flag. The 

 sections of the paths thus marked are forbid- 

 den ground; none of the household will walk 

 upon them. 



May arrives, gay with flowers and sunshine. 

 The navvies of April have turned themselves 

 into harvesters. At every moment, I see them 

 settling, all befloured with yellow, atop of the 



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