CONCLUSION. 321 



bees and ants. Being totally without aptitude 

 for war, they cannot discharge their HabiHties 

 to the state by serving as soldiers, as do the 

 wild hogs and other robust creatures which 

 are banded together for self-defence. Think- 

 ing power they have practically none, so they 

 cannot even contribute to the common welfare 

 by giving good advice during a political crisis, 

 or by helping to outwit public enemies. But 

 every one of them is born with a conspicuous 

 white tail, and this it loyally dedicates to the 

 service of the public. 



Plainly, a rabbit living alone and possessing an 

 ostentatious tail would be at a ereat disadvantaee. 

 It would pay its taxes and receive nothing in 

 e.xchange. Now the hare affords us a most 

 interesting e.xample of how gregarious customs 

 become modified when a solitary life is adopted. 

 In many ways the hare betrays the fact that it is 

 descended from socialist forefathers which not 

 only lived in communities but which burrowed in 

 the ground and transacted all the business of life 

 without straying far from their places of refuge. 

 Its white tail is therefore a historic relic of the 

 time when there was little to choose between a 

 hare and a rabbit. 



X 



