276 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



incapable of reproduction and cannot exist except as parts 

 of the original colony, any more than the leaves of a tree can 

 survive detachment. Indeed, a tree and a colony of bees may 

 equally be regarded as one individual organism and the co- 

 ordination and harmony which exists in the hive and has so 

 often been remarked upon and quoted as a text by theologians 

 and philosophers, is but little more remarkable than in the case 

 of the tree. The fact that neuter bees can detach themselves 

 temporarily from the cluster makes no difference. They 

 cannot live long apart from it or become the progenitors of new 

 colonies or of individuals, their functions being limited, as the 

 functions of leaves are limited, to the collection of food, its 

 assimilation and conveyance to the growing point of the 

 organism. In a tree, the transport is effected by means of the 

 branches, which maintain physical contact, while in the bee 

 it is by elaborate locomotive appliances and instinct. So long 

 as the tree is growing it continues to produce more leaves, and 

 the bee-hive grows by the addition of neuters. When full 

 development is attained, however, this growth is modified, in 

 the one case by formation of flowers and fruit, and in the other 

 by production of individuals with perfect sex organs. Even 

 to minute details, the resemblance is singularly exact, for, while 

 a tree produces an enormous preponderance of the male 

 element, so the bee-hive produces an excessive number of 

 drones, or male bees. Seldom does a hive raise more than 

 twenty female bees, and of these very few are permitted to 

 come to maturity, two or three new colonies being the usual 

 limit of reproduction during the season. 



II 



Many volumes have been written about the hive-bee, and 

 the wonderful details of its life and growth are readily accessible 

 to all who are not familiar with them. Indeed, so much 

 literature has been devoted to this important insect, mainly 

 on account of its direct service to humanity, that attention has 

 been drawn away from other members of the family Apidce, 

 in which there are many species with habits at least as interesting 

 as those of the typical species. 



Comparatively little is known, for instance, of the nearest 

 relatives of Apis mellifica. Yet the genus Apis contains several 

 other species with interesting features, showing the possibilities 

 of variation, even when a race has developed such a highly 

 specialised state as this which stands at the head of the Apidce. 



Three species, for example, are found in India, the most 

 widespread being Apis Indica, which very closely resembles 

 mellifica, and is by some regarded merely as a pronounced local 



