SOCIAL LIFE 229 



which, escaping from the tutelage of mankind, have become 

 feral, reverting to an independent mode of life. Sometimes, 

 however, feral nests of the hive-bee are found hanging 

 without protective covering from the branches of trees. 

 All these facts combine to indicate that the genus Apis 

 originated in the tropics of the Eastern Hemisphere, and 

 that it has become adapted to life in cooler regions by the 

 habit of nesting in shelters either discovered or provided. 



In their mode of life, shown among the truly wild as 

 well as in the domesticated species, the hive-bee group is 

 distinguished by a marked *' division of labour " between 

 workers and queen and by the progressive feeding and 

 tendance of the larvae throughout Ufe. Details of the 

 economy of hive-bees have been frequently described, and 

 no more need here be attempted beyond the indication of a 

 few leading facts of especial biological interest. These 

 insects store honey in some of the chambers of their comb, 

 and thus ensure a constant and convenient supply for 

 the growing grubs as well as for the adult bees in the nest. 

 The habit renders possible also the persistence of the com- 

 munity from year to year in those northern countries with 

 cold winters where hive-bees have been for centuries 

 domesticated. New communities are established by swarms, 

 consisting of a queen with a crowd of workers, which leave 

 the old habitation. Swarming in the domestic bee-com- 

 munities follows the emergence of a daughter- queen — an 

 event controlled by the workers. The daughter remains in 

 the hive, and the swarm is " led off " by the mother-bee. 



The worker bees take over all the activities necessary for 

 the rearing of the young : comb-building, food-gathering, and 

 distribution, and they also control by collective action the 

 reproductive function of the queen, who may be regarded 

 as " a mere egg-laying machine entirely dependent on her 

 worker-progeny." Her hind legs are destitute of those 

 pollen-gathering adaptations so elaborately developed in the 

 workers, though among the bumble-bees these are common 

 to queens and workers. As an egg-laying machine, how- 

 ever, the queen-bee is highly efficient, as she may produce 



