Chapter xii 



THE TRAVELLERS 



I HAVE told in the last chapter how, on the 

 ridges of Mont Ventoux, at a height of nearly 

 6000 feet, I had one of those entomological 

 windfalls which would be rich in results if they 

 occurred often enough to serve the purpose of 

 continuous study. Unfortunately, mine was 

 a solitary instance and I despair of ever repeat- 

 ing it. I can therefore only base conjectures 

 on it, in the hope that future observers will 

 replace my surmises with certainties. 



Under the shelter of a broad, fiat stone I 

 discovered some hundreds of Ammophilae [A. 

 hirsuta), heaped one on top of the other almost 

 as closely as the Bees in a swarm. As soon as 

 I lifted the stone, all this little hairy world 

 began to run about, without making any attempt 

 to fly away. I shifted the mass b}'' handfuls : 

 not one of the Wasps looked as though she 

 wished to desert the rest. They seemed in- 

 dissolubly united by common interests ; none 

 of them would go unless all went. I examined 



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