730 Proceedings. 



Fifth Meeting : 4tli September, 1895. 

 Mr. T. Kirk, President, in the chair. 



Papers. — 1. '' On the Construction of the Comb of the 

 Hive-bee," by Coleman Phiihps. (Transactions, p. 479.) 



The autlior asserted not only that Darwin atid all the followers of 

 Darwin who have dealt with the same subject have wholly failed to 

 account for the origin and growth of the habits and powers exercised by 

 the hive-bee in its various operations, and more especially in the con- 

 struction of the honeycomb, but also that the laws propounded by 

 Darwin and his followers as regulating the evolution of habits and 

 mstincts are entirely insufhcient to produce the observed resulls. And 

 he further contended, in support of his assertion, that the exercise by this 

 insect of its observed habits and powers must be referred to its possessing 

 what are understood as reasoning faculties, derived by it, in common 

 with all other forms of life, from what lie terms " some force, energy, or 

 intelligence in nature " or " common vital force." 



Mr. Tregear did not see any reason for suggesting any force other 

 than those already recognised by science. The power of natural selection 

 to differentiate and to reject unstable combinations was sufficient to 

 account for the advantages possessed by certain animals. There was no 

 attempt made by Darwin to combat the argument from design or the 

 idea of a Creator. It was a far more magnifice>it idea to tliink that some 

 jelly-fish or ascidian was constructed to hold the germ of the future man 

 than that a distinct act of creation brought into being every oak, every 

 bird, every human being. Tiiere is no reason for requiring any influence 

 beside that of the power which produces and reproduces, along the same 

 lines through endless generations, all the different living beings which 

 form the animal and vegetable kingdoms. 



General Schaw said that he had in his first presidential address 

 argued against the commonly-received view that Darwin's theory of 

 natural selection was a fact, not an hypothesis, and that the extreme 

 theories of evolution founded on that theory were all to be taken as 

 established truths. It appeared to him that the quotation he had read 

 from Mr. Darwin's book was open to serious criticism. He could not see 

 that circles were used by the bees in any way in the construction of their 

 cells, nor could he see the slightest evidence that natural selection had 

 anything to do with the intelligence, or instinct, or guidance of the bees 

 in their hive-work. He could not admit that any proof of evolution by 

 natural selection had ever been obtained, not even by the late Professor 

 Huxley in his supposed pedigree of the horse ; yet he believed that 

 Darwin, with his wonderfully patient and diligent collection of facts, and 

 his great sagacity, had discovered a part of one of the laws by which 

 variations had occurred in the directions intended. But that the law of 

 natural selection accounted for the endless varieties and perfections of 

 living things in the past and the present was to him absolutely incredible 

 and entirely without proof. Possibly in the future we might attain a 

 further insight into the hidden workings of the Creator, but at (resent 

 they were surrounded with mystery, and we must confess our ignorance. 



Mr. Harding said that it was not well that any scientific theory 

 should have so overshadowing an influence as to be regarded as outside 

 criticism. It was in the theoretical portion of the paper ju^t read that 

 the writer was not strong. That insects and other creatures had senses 

 unknown to man — perceptions of physical conditions revealed to us only 

 by scientific instruments — seemtd very probable, but that they pos- 

 sessed mechanical or mathematical knowledge in the ordinary sense was 

 very doubtful. It might be of advantage to consider an ant-hill or bee- 

 hive as a single organism, the individual being merged in the society. 



