The Halicti : the Portress 



the population. I count from forty to sixty 

 mole-hills on a surface of one square yard. 

 The encampment is three paces wide and 

 stretches over nearly three-quarters of a mile. 

 How many Halicti are there in this Babylon? 

 I do not venture to make the calculation. 



Speaking of the Zebra Halictus, I used the 

 words hamlet, village, township; and the ex- 

 pressions were appropriate. Here the term 

 city hardly meets the case. And what reason 

 can we allege for these innumerable clusters? 

 I can see but one: the charm of living to- 

 gether, which is the origin of society. Like 

 mingles with like, without the rendering of 

 any mutual service; and this is enough to sum- 

 mon the Early Halictus to the same wayside, 

 even as the Herring and the Sardine assemble 

 in the same waters. 



421 



