1894. NEUTER INSECTS AND DARWINISM. 289 



to her descendants. Thus the workers also change, for though the 

 eggs of one female are all alike, the imperfect development of these 

 eggs may well result in a different worker now from that which was 

 produced in previous generations. When the female with some 

 workers survived the winter, her specialisation went much further, for 

 after this she never worked at all. In considering how this change 

 took place in the hive bee, we must remember that this form 

 was originally domesticated in a warmer climate. It is not native to 

 Britain in the wild state. In the case of ants and termites, the con- 

 tinuity of the community could probably be easily explained from 

 their fossorial and constructive habits, which prevent their destruction 

 by the seasons. It has been proved by Lubbock that a single female 

 can originate an ant community, although she probably does not 

 usually do so. The termite king and queen appear to be too much 

 specialised for reproduction to found a community without the help of 

 workers. So far, then, from being a triumphant proof of the all- 

 sufficiency of natural selection, the peculiarities of social poly- 

 morphic insects, rightly regarded, offer the strongest support to 

 Lamarckian principles. It may be said that the degeneration of 

 working organs and instincts in the so-called queens, and their increased 

 fertility, were advantages to the species and therefore survived, but it 

 seems to me that it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that these 

 modifications are the direct result of disuse and stimulation, and that 

 they are transmitted. 



REFERENCES. 



1. Weismann. — "The All-Sufficiency of Natural Selection," Cojitemporary Review, 



Sept., 1893. 



2. Herbert Spencer. — "A Rejoinder to Professor Weismann," Op. cit., Dec, 



1893- 



3. Sir John Lubbock. — " Ants, Bees and Wasps." International Scientific Series, 



London, 1882. 



4. Elmery. — " Die Entstehung und Ausbildung des Arbeiterstandes bei Ameisen," 



Biologisches Centralblatt, Jan., 1894. 



5. "W. Piatt Ball. — "Neuter Insects and Lamarckism," Natural Science, 



Feb., 1894. 



J. T. Cunningham. 



