I-ACKAKD.] THE SOCIAL LIFE OF II^SECTS. ?51 



How the domestic liive-bee builds its cells lias been dis- 

 cussed by Mr. Darwin in the "Origin of Species." His 

 theory seems to combine the i)urel3' mechanical views of 

 Haughton and Walcrhouse, with the view that the bee un- 

 consciousl}^ takes advantage of modifications of simple, 

 primitive architectural instincts such as many other insects 

 possess. If I understand his theory aright it implies that 

 the bee, by the very act of " taking advantage" of the simple 

 instincts, must in the nature of the case act as an intelligent 

 agent. He thus sums up the leading points in his theory : 

 "Thus, as I believe, the most wonderful of all known in- 

 stincts, that of the hive-bee, can be explained by natural 

 selection having taken advantage of numerous, successive 

 slight modifications of simpler instincts ; natural selection 

 having, by slow degrees, more and more perfectly led the 

 bees to sweep equal spheres at a given distance from each 

 other in a double layer, and to build up and excavate the 

 wax along the planes of intersection ; the bees, of course, 

 no more knowing tliat they swept their spheres at one 

 particular distance from each other, than they know what 

 are the several angles of the hexagonal prisms and of the 

 basal rhombic i)lates ; the motive power of the process of 

 natural selection having been the construction of colls of 

 due strength, and of the proper size and shape for the larvie, 

 this being effected with the greatest possible economy of 

 labor and wax ; tliat individual swarm which tlms made the 

 best cells with least labor, and least waste of honey in the 

 secretion of wax, having succeeded best, and having trans- 

 mitted by inheritance their newly acquired economical in- 

 stincts to new swarms, which in their turn will have had the 

 best chance of succeeding in the struggle for existence." 



IMr. Darwin has noticed the objection to such a theory 

 in the fact that bees have a capacity of " laying down under 

 certain circumstances a rongii wall in its proper place be- 

 tween two just-commenced cells" which is important, "as it 



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