Cooperative System Amongst Lower Animals 771 



geiice as evidenced by their actions, it is not the gorilhi and 

 the chimpanzee, but the bee, and above all the ant, which 

 approach nearest to man." 



Now, while there are many hundreds of hymenopterous 

 genera, including at least 20,000 species, which are all de- 

 cidedly competitive, these in number of individuals, in speciali- 

 zation for defense, in nervous complexity, and in capacity 

 for multiplication do not even approximately compare with 

 the relatively few genera of social wasps, and specially of bees 

 and ants. But, in estimating their highly successful coopera- 

 tive efforts, human observers have attempted, till within the 

 past twenty years, to interpret their sensory actions and reac- 

 tions purely by human measure and comparison. Now it 

 is being recognized that their marvelous senses of odor and 

 sound are a powerful aid toward social union. 



If we only attempt to condense shortly the phases in the 

 life history of ants that have conspired to give them dominant 

 position next to man himself, we should say, first: that the 

 continued evolution of an increasing care for the young, from 

 the egg to the nearly adult individual, has developed a reflex 

 love and regard for the members of each colony, so that mutual 

 help and regard are promment characteristics. Social care 

 for the young also greatly reduces the action of injurious agen- 

 cies, at the critical period in individual history. Man is grad- 

 ually moving toward a similar line of action, though his efforts 

 are often crude and indeterminate, being restricted mainly 

 and often imperfectly to the family, rather than to the social 

 system. 



Second: By a remarkable and unified process of feeding, 

 distinct types or castes have been evolved that undertake 

 successfully the biological continuity of the species. In this 

 connection few facts in the entire range of intra-specific varia- 

 tions are more remarkable than those associated with the 

 evolution and adaptation of the queens, the males, the workers, 

 and the soldiers. These have all ])ecome so e(iuilibrated in 

 their cooperative efforts, that the successful economy of each 

 nest, or even of many adjacent colonies, i)roceeds with har- 



