102 K.U.MKJCT _ Diwwpltiw* L> llalkiihfi fires V^ft!*t> 



hack, created the impression of a female haUetine bee with sm 

 apricot-coloured abdomen* hence the mate's attempt to effect copu- 

 lation. Of couri-;:. scent would assert itself almost immediately to 

 remedy the fault, but i* the first headlong flash through the air 

 there is no lime to check up all die minutiae uS the eba*e. 



Did I s£; I iound my firer colony of halktinc bees on the sandy 

 &i;Ore of Pott Phillip? Of* course 1 did, because I can never forget 

 8 * the heart-breaking searching for such tiny shaft* — ihey have the 

 diameter of a piece of thin string ; the inevitable contusion brought 

 lihcuu by the difference in the colour of the two se.ves, the frustration 

 engendered by the avalanches of fine sand that poured down into 

 llie smallest evcavations, effectively drowning shafts, cells,, puddings, 

 larvae and adults. Moreover, I ifyas increasingly obsessed with the 

 fear thai my unsuccessful delving* and concomitant destruction of 

 the colonies would eventually leave me without any material what- 

 ever tor future researches, f had perforce to abandon my excavations 

 in tl>e sandy soil The colonies were too difficult to discover, and Ihe 

 exceedingly friable soil, interlaced as it is with a million roriller.s of 

 Ihe tea-trees, utterly defeated me and left me very dis-spirited. 



"OW t>dc of research had imi out, and was at its lowest ebb. But 

 Ug jne should never forget, kite tide turns, and the flood pours back, 

 laden with a full harvest to revivify the heart and delight the. spirit 

 with thr richness of its treasure*. The ''high water'' rose fur cieyand 

 Sandnngham. ft rolled inland even to Ihe Dandenongs, where 1 

 have a friend, Mr. \V. Tl, Rkhnrdson, a welf-known mgineer m 

 (he eity, aval one who JhkU the essential relaxation from hi* exten- 

 sive business on a inodel fann. ^Now. do nut conclude from this sum- 

 mary that nil thi'rtga are possible on a "pocket-handkerchief' That 

 would not he true, tot the /arm is ait extensive one. About the home- 

 stead is a lovelv garden, where the lawns form green pictures framed 

 here and there with arbour* of toses. Well, in the middle of that 

 closely tended sward, I find a shaft of Halutus, Of eoui£e, I do not 

 expect to disrupt my friends beautiful garden. N*e.verthel$s, 1 re- 

 count tu him the problems of the bees. 



''Dig up the lawn," he assures me iostamlv, the gardeners here 

 will make the grass quite right again '*' Thank you, Sir ! So the next 

 time I visit my friend I take an assistant, and together we tape tbe 

 Uwn into areas one foot square and search every square on uur 

 hands and knees. We are abundantly rewarded for our care and 

 patience, we filld nineteen Tinv hatictine shafts, each, 1 would remind 

 you, of no greater diameter than a piece of tine string. Of course. 

 I am elated. 



At last I have a quiet place for study : one far removed from the 

 vandals of the foreshore and the thoughtless feet of the picnicker*, 

 even from the bulldozers of the Council. There are. no disturbing 

 intruders, only the friendliness -ind co-operation of a veTy fine em- 

 mi. The damp sod pares of! as cleanly and easily a? a piece of cheese. 



