THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEE AND THE BEEHIVE 



Fig. 1. — Queen bee. 



established. The medicine man, who acted both as priest 

 and doctor, was evolved. A chieftain was set up. The old 

 men became counsellors. Still each family lived in its own 

 wigwam and not with others in an 

 apartment house or a hotel. 



Certain social communities other 

 than human have in a similar way 

 evolved from simple beginnings, 

 and one of the highest of these is 

 undoubtedly that of the honey-bee; 

 and the society of the honey-bee is 

 even more complex than anything 

 in our own civilization. "The bee 

 in its own line," writes J. A. 

 Thomson, "is hardly inferior to 

 man, and represents an achieve- 

 ment that angels might desire to 

 look into." 



In a beehive there are three ranks 

 of individuals. First, there is the 

 queen bee (Fig. 1), who is indeed 

 the mother of her people, for she 

 alone lays eggs ; and as a rule she is 

 a solitary monarch, and tolerates no 

 rivals. Then there are the workers 

 (Fig. 2), which in structure are 

 females, though they have ceased 



laying eggs. Like Martha, they are cumbered with much 

 serving. Third, there are the males, or drones (Fig. 3), 

 quite useless in the conduct of the affairs of the hive except 

 that one of them will ultimately fertilize the queen bee. 



The beehive itself is a very complex affair. When a cluster 

 of bees have swarmed (Fig. 4) they take refuge in some 



[187] 



Fig. 2.— Worker. 



Fig. 3.— Drone. 



