The Progress of the Race 



clearly that the customs and prudent or- 

 ganisation of the hive are not the results 

 of a primitive impulse, mechanically fol- 

 lowed through different ages and climates, 

 but that the spirit which governs the little 

 republic is fully as capable of taking note 

 of new conditions and turning these to 

 the best advantage, as in times long past it 

 was capable of meeting the dangers that 

 hemmed it around. Transport our black 

 bee to California or Australia, and her 

 habits will completely alter. Finding that 

 summer is perpetual and flowers forever 

 abundant, she will after one or two years 

 be content to live from day to day, and 

 gather sufficient honey and pollen for the 

 day's consumption; and, her thoughtful 

 observation of these new features triumph- 

 ing over hereditary experience, she will 

 cease to make provision for the winter.^ 



^ Buchner cites an analogous fact. In the Barbadoes, 

 the bees whose hives are in the midst of the refineries, 



381 



