94 THE BEAUTIES OE NATURE chap. 



tance at once; but if they are intended to 

 take a long flight, they are trained to do so 

 by stages. 



Darwin suggested that it would be inter- 

 esting to test the case by taking animals in 

 a close box, and then whirling them round 

 rapidly before letting them out. This is in 

 fact done with cats in some parts of France, 

 when the family migrates, and is considered 

 the only way of preventing the cat from re- 

 turning to the old home. Fabre has tried 

 the same thing with some wild Bees (Chali- 

 codoma). He took some, marked them on 

 the back with a spot of white, and put them 

 into a bag. He then carried them a quarter 

 of a mile, stopping at a point where an old 

 cross stands by the wayside, and whirled the 

 bag rapidly round his head. While he was 

 doing so a good woman came by, who seemed 

 not a little surprised to find the Professor sol- 

 emnly whirling a black bag round his head 

 in front of the cross ; and, he fears, suspected 

 him of Satanic practices. He then carried 

 his Bees a mile and a half in the opposite 

 direction and let them go. Three out of 



