Bramble-bees and Others 



fort to ward off the common foe. The Ha- 

 lictus does not care about her neighbour's af- 

 fairs. She does not visit another's burrow; 

 she does not allow others to visit hers. She 

 has her tribulations, which she endures alone; 

 she is indifferent to the tribulations of others. 

 She stands aloof from the strife of her fel- 

 lows. Let each mind her own business and 

 leave things at that. 



But company has its attractions. He lives 

 twice who watches the life of others. Indi- 

 vidual activity gains by the sight of the gen- 

 eral activity; the animation of each one de- 

 rives fresh warmth from the fire of the uni- 

 versal animation. To see one's neighbours 

 at work stimulates one's rivalry. And work, 

 is the great delight, the real satisfaction that 

 gives some value to life. The Halictus knows 

 this well and assembles in her numbers that 

 she may work all the better. 



Sometimes she assembles in such multitudes 

 and over such extents of ground as to suggest 

 our own colossal swarms. Babylon and Mem- 

 phis, Rome and Carthage, London and Paris, 

 those frantic hives, occur to our mind if we 

 can manage to forget comparative dimensions 

 and see a Cyclopean pile in a pinch of earth, 



418 



