The Progress of the Race 
from matter, it is still quite material. It 
is cold, hunger, fear, transformed into 
something that as yet has no shape. It 
crawls vaguely around great dangers, 
around the long nights, the approach 
of winter, of an equivocal sleep which 
almost is death... . 
[ 106 | 
The Xylocope are powerful bees which 
worm their nest in dry wood. Their life 
is solitary always. Towards the end of 
summer, however, some individuals of a 
particular species, the Xylocopa Cyanes- 
cens, may be found huddled together in a 
shivering group, on a stalk of asphodel, 
to spend the winter in common. Among 
the Xylocopz this tardy fraternity is ex- 
ceptional, but among the Ceratine, which 
are of their nearest kindred, it has become 
a constant habit. The idea is germinat- 
ing. It halts immediately ; and hitherto 
395 
