THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEE AND THE BEEHIVE 



ing pollen or nectar from plants to be turned into honey. 

 Sometimes they act as chemists, as when they inject drops of 

 formic acid into the stored food to prevent its fermentation. 

 Sometimes they are sealing down cells. Sometimes they are 

 sweeping and cleaning and scavenging to keep the hive clean, 

 and dragging dead bees into the open. Sometimes they are 

 acting as policemen to guard the hive — to scare away intrud- 

 ers. Sometimes they are architects and wax-workers and 

 moulders. At times some fan their wings to ventilate the 

 interior of the dark hive and to aid in the evaporation of the 

 water in the honey if it is too weak. Some of them act as 

 nurses and some as maids of honour, who do not allow the 

 queen to get out of their sight. As has been pointed out by 

 a learned divine: 



"Three facts emerge from a study of this community: 



"1. The lesson of solidarity, of the social spirit, to which the 

 interests of the individual are subservient. 



"2. The distribution of labour in accordance with the law of 

 mutual help, each doing his work Hke an instrument in a vast 

 orchestra and all producing a beautiful harmony. 



"3. The law of sacrifice for the sake of the future race." 



Each individual is so wrapped up in the community that 

 if isolated from its fellows it dies. The constant sense of 

 mutual help, of self-sacrifice for the future race, is the dom- 

 inating characteristic of all bees, and there is something that 

 Maeterlinck calls the "spirit of the hive," which in some way 

 guides, directs, and controls the work of this strange, self- 

 sacrificing community. Here there is no private property. 

 As Dryden says in his translation of Vergil's book about the 

 bee: "All is the State's; the State provides for all." In a 

 passionate devotion to duty and in an energy expended solely 

 for others, in a single-minded purpose, the queen and the 

 worker honey-bee are unique among animals. Now, how has 



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