WHAT EVOLUTION IS 155 



such as the ant hill and the bee swarm, 

 all these preceded human society by 

 untold ages. Wheeler informs us 

 that in the insects alone social states 

 have arisen no fewer than twenty- 

 four different times in as many dif- 

 ferent groups of these animals. Yet 

 none of these societies accomplished 

 what man, as a social organism, has 

 achieved. 



They almost all differ from human 

 society in two fundamental aspects. 

 First of all, the members of most 

 animal societies are close-blood rela- 

 tives. In the ant hill the individuals 

 are commonly the offspring of one 

 queen; they are all sisters in one 

 household. In almost all animal col- 

 onies, except the human, this close- 

 blood relationship holds. Second, 

 among the colonies of lower animals 

 the division of labor is relatively 

 slight. In human society occupations 



