23 
1905, spent 354 days in their cocoons, a period distinctly less than that 
of two worker pupe of the same colony at the same time, which took — 
404 and 39 days, respectively. These queens were raised in the same 
queenless colony previously referred to, after the supply of fresh eggs 
was cut off. This would seem to show that a scarcity of eggs rather 
than the bodily absence of the queen may be necessary to set the work- 
ers to the development of a new queen. Certain it is that there is no 
such obvious reaction to the presence of a queen as among the bees. 
If the accounts of Maeterlinck and other observers are to be credited, 
there would seem to be among bees either a distinct system of royal 
etiquette or some direct unexplained influence upon the actions of the 
workers. 
And one may mention here the curious fact that the workers always avoid 
turning their backs on the queen. No sooner has she approached a gtoup than 
they will invariably arrange themselves so as to face her with eyes and 
antenne, and to walk backwards before her. It is a token of respect, or of 
solicitude that, unlikely as it may seem, is nevertheless constant and general.¢@ 
TYPES OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AMONG INSECTS. 
Insects of several natural groups might be described as social. The 
larve of certain Lepidoptera remain together and even make com- 
munity webs or cocoons. Some of the bark lice (Psocide) also pas- 
ture in droves, and in their younger stages spin continuous silk can- 
opies over their feeding places. These communities, while obviously 
held together by social instincts, are in no proper sense to be termed 
organized, no division of labor or diversity of form or structure hav- 
ing arisen as a result of the merely gregarious association of indi- 
viduals. Among the Hymenoptera some of the wasps of the family 
EKumenide represent this primitive social condition. Maeterlinck has 
traced the social development of the honeybee.? 
For an adequate outline of the diversity of breeding habits 1t seems 
necessary to recognize at least six types of social organization among 
insects. The contrasts between the different biological conditions 
found in the several forms of insect society can best be shown by brief 
formal descriptions. 
« Maeterlineck, M., 1901, The Life of the Bee, p. 214. 
bd‘ We find even to-day, among the melliferous Hymenoptera, all the stages of 
progressive civilization of our own domestic bee. At the bottom of the scale 
we find her working alone, in wretchedness, often not seeing her offspring (the 
Prosopis, the Colletes, etc.) ; sometimes living in the midst of the limited family 
that she produces annually (as in the case of the humblebee). Then she forms 
temporary associations (the Panurgi, the Dasypodie, the Halicti, ete.), and at 
last we arrive, through successive stages, at the almost perfect but pitiless 
society of our hives, where the individual is entirely merged in the repub- 
lice * * *,’-Maeterlinck, M., 1901, The Life of the Bee, p. 31. 
