Vol. IX, pp. 1-74 



April, 1894 



PROCEEDINGS 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



SOCIAL INSECTS FROM PSYCHICAL AND EVOLU- 

 TIONAL POINTS OF VIEW.* 



BY C. V. RILEY, PH. D. 



Prelude. 



Friends and Fellow-members : 



Custom has ordained that the president of the Biological 

 Society deliver an annual address, and that the public be invited 

 to listen thereto. This custom, likewise followed by some of our 

 sister societies, has certain advantages, but also certain disadvan- 

 tages. Instead of appealing to members only, or treating, in 

 special and technical way, some subject that intimately concerns 

 them, the speaker finds it incumbent upon him to popularize his 

 subject, and to endeavor to interest alike those who are and those 

 who are not familiar Avith the science of biology in any of its 

 special branches. It will be my endeavor to accomplish this dual 

 task to-night by omitting the reading of the more technical and 

 detailed portions of this paper, Avhich, though in one sense the 

 most important, may well be printed in smaller type, as a series 

 of notes. 



My predecessors have generally dealt with the subjects upon 

 which they were working as specialists, or upon which they were 



*Annual address of the President of the Society, delivered in the hall of 

 Columbian Univei'sity, January 29, 1S94. The address was illustrated with 

 stereoptioon views, only a few of which are here reproduced. 



