INSECT SOCIETIES 



groups of queens and workers. This is the chief reason why 

 the species did not spread until human transport was avail- 

 able to carry it about. But once this was provided its other 

 superiorities took effect. When it is not given such transport, 

 the other ants whose queens may fly long distances to found 

 new colonies have a compensating advantage, at any rate 

 outside small islands. 



THE STUDY OF SOCIAL INSECTS IN THE FUTURE 



The progress of biology in the last hundred years has been 

 associated with the gradual application of the experimental 

 method to more and more varied fields. The experimental 

 study of insect societies is quite recent. A beginning was made 

 in the nineteenth century, notably in the study of Italian 

 termites in the 1890s, by Grassi and Sundias. But most of 

 the tools necessary for such a study have become available 

 only recently. This is especially true of the basic facts of 

 insect physiology ,and of the methods and ideas used in 

 analysing the simpler behaviour of solitary species. 



We can be sure that the experimental study of the organi- 

 sation of social insects will lead to many more strange and 

 even startling discoveries. For a long time to come, clear and 

 imaginative thinking will be quite as useful as elaborate 

 apparatus. A beehive or an ant-colony is easier to keep than 

 a dog, and although it will hardly be so satisfying to the 

 affections, it will provide a host of unsolved problems on 

 which anyone may exercise his disinterested curiosity. It is 

 the application of this distinctively human faculty, not only 

 to insect societies but also to our own, which is most needed 

 in the world to-day. 



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