. The study of animal life . t very stable andsuccessful. Its customs seemnow like those of children atplay, and now like the real-ised dreams of social refor-mers. The whole life givesone the impression of an old-established business in whichall contingencies have beenso often experienced thatthey have ceased to causehesitation or friction. There is indeed much mortality, Fig. i6.—Honey-bee {Apis melUfica). some apparent cruelty, and ^^^^^^JrS^^^^i,;!;^-the constantly recurring ad-venture of migration ; but though hive may war againsthive, inter-civic competition has virtually ceased, and the
. The study of animal life . t very stable andsuccessful. Its customs seemnow like those of children atplay, and now like the real-ised dreams of social refor-mers. The whole life givesone the impression of an old-established business in whichall contingencies have beenso often experienced thatthey have ceased to causehesitation or friction. There is indeed much mortality, Fig. i6.—Honey-bee {Apis melUfica). some apparent cruelty, and ^^^^^^JrS^^^^i,;!;^-the constantly recurring ad-venture of migration ; but though hive may war againsthive, inter-civic competition has virtually ceased, and thelife proceeds smoothly with the harmony and effectivenessof a perfected organisation. The mother-bee, whom we call a queen ^—though sheis without the wits and energy of a ruler—is to this extenthead of the community, that, by her prolific egg-laying, sheincreases or restores the population. Very sluggish intheir ordinary life are the numerous males or drones,one of whom, fleet and vigorous beyond his fellows, will pair. 76 The Study of Animal Life part i with a queen in her nuptial flight, himself to die soon after,saved at least from the expulsion and massacre which awaitall the sex when the supplies of honey run short in queen and drones are important only so far as multiplica-tion is concerned. The sustained life of the hive is wholly inthe hands of the workers, who in brains, in activity, andgeneral equipment are greatly superior to their queen. The queen has lost her domestic arts, which the worker pos-sesses in a perfection never attained by the ancestral types ;while the worker has lost her maternal functions, althoughshe still possesses the needed organs in a rudimentary a busy life is theirs, gathering nectar and pollenunwearjingly, while the sunshine lasts, neatly slipping intothe secrets of the flowers or stealing their treasures byforce, carrying their booty home in swift sweeping flight,often over long distances unerringly, unloading the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishe, booksubjectzoology
