by degrees, aided by the richness of her diet, she became the
powerful Scolia with whom we are familiar. Having reached this point,
the species assumes a permanent form, as does its instinct.

Here we have a multiplicity of stages, all of the slowest, all of the
most incredible nature, whereas the Wasp cannot found a race except on
the express condition of complete success from the first attempt. We
will not insist further upon the insurmountable objection; we will admit
that, amid so many unfavourable chances, a few favoured individuals
survive, becoming more and more numerous from one generation to the
next, in proportion as the dangerous art of rearing the young is
perfected. Slight variations in one and the same direction form a
definite whole; and at long last the ancient precursor has become the
Scolia of our own times.

By the aid of a vague phraseology which juggles with the secret of
the centuries and the unknown things of life, it is easy to build up a
theory in which our mental sloth delights, after being discouraged by
difficult researches whose final result is doubt rather than positive
statement. But if, so far from being satisfied with hazy generalities
and adopting as current coin the terms consecrated by fashion, we have
the perseverance to explore the truth as far as lies in our power, the
aspect of things will undergo a great change and we shall discover that
they are far less simple than our overprecipitate views declared them
to be. Generalization is certainly a most valuable instrument: science
indeed exists only by virtue of it. Let us none the less beware
of generalizations which are not based upon very firm and manifold
foundations.

When these foundations are lacking, the child is the great generalizer.
For him, the feathered world consists merely of birds; the race of
reptiles merely of snakes, the only difference being that some are big
and some are little. Knowing nothing, he generalizes in the highest
degree; he simplifies, in his inability to perceive the complex. Later
he will learn that the Sparrow is not the Bullfinch, that the Linnet is
not the Greenfinch; he will particularize and to a greater degree each
day, as his faculty of observation becomes more fully trained. In the
beginning he saw nothing but resemblances; he now sees differences, but
still not plainly enough to avoid incongruous comparisons.

In his adult years he will almost to a certainty commit zoological
blunders si