SOCIAL LIFE 231 



clean out chambers of the comb ready for egg-laying ; her 

 next to remain in chambers where eggs have been laid, 

 apparently for the purpose of assisting incubation. During 

 the early period she is fed by her sisters, but when about 

 three days old she begins to collect pollen and honey from 

 the store, some of which she uses herself, but passes on 

 most to the older grubs. When about a week old, her own 

 digestive system becomes fully active and she spends the 

 next week in feeding the young grubs that require her 

 secretions for their proper nourishment. Then she begins 

 to take up a certain amount of outdoor work, trying her 

 powers in exploring flights, receiving nectar and pollen from 

 the older foraging bees and removing dead comrades and 

 refuse from the hive. The foraging bees on returning to 

 the nest " dance " on the honeycomb with a circular turning 

 motion, and during this performance the younger workers 

 surround them with the apparent object of appreciating 

 and remembering the scent of the flowers which the foragers 

 have been visiting, so that these younger members when 

 they in their turn leave the hive on foraging flights are 

 guided to the same sources of food supply in special kinds 

 of flower. The rapid, changing activities of a worker-bee at 

 the height of the honey-season soon wear out the insect's 

 constitution, and her life may last no longer than three 

 weeks. Worker-bees, unlike the wasps, derive no food- 

 substance from the grubs that they tend. The habit of 

 storing a large reserve of honey and pollen in the nest 

 ensures an abundant supply for adult insects as well as 

 grubs, so that there is no exploitation of the latter by their 

 nurses. The life of the worker-bee is devoted to the service 

 of the society whereof she is a member, and her varied 

 activities, briefly sketched in these pages, which follow one 

 another in regular order as responses to successive stimula- 

 tions, indicate to how great an extent her behaviour is 

 regulated by inherited instinct. Our wonder at the matter 

 is increased as we recollect that neither the remarkable 

 structures on which her activities depend nor the instincts 

 themselves are characteristic of the parents, queen and 



