THE SOCIETAL ORGANISM 



introduced into the pattern of development of living 

 matter. The colony does not perpetuate itself merely 

 because of the biological constitution of the individual 

 multicellular organisms with their characteristic asso- 

 ciative tendencies, but association between generations 

 is usually essential for the perpetuation of the colony. 

 In this fashion learning from the older generation is 

 transmitted to the younger one. It can therefore be 

 stated that the heredity of a colony contains elements 

 other than just the aggregate of the genetic patterns of 

 the individuals constituting the colony. The heredity 

 of a colony properly includes the historically estab- 

 lished behavior of the colony. This feature is present to 

 only the very slightest extent in non-colony-forming 

 animals. The full significance of this process will be- 

 come far more apparent in the discussion of the follow- 

 ing chapter, which will deal with the colony formation 

 of man. 



The importance of this "social heredity" increases in 

 relation to the genetic heredity of the individuals, as 

 the integration of the colony proceeds in the direction 

 of transformation into a Societal Organism. As a result 

 such an organism must develop new "reproductive" 

 traits operating on the societal level to assure perpetua- 

 tion of its organic entity. 



^,,,./.CA/ 



•> • -. 



>s 



71 



