262 DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



The honeybees, however, establish permanent com- 

 munities from which swarms may set out during the 

 warm months to become new colonies elsewhere. Many 

 hundreds of bees make up a hive, and they belong to 

 three classes or castes, which differ in structure and 

 social function. The queen is a fertile female, the 

 drones are males, and the workers are stunted and in- 

 fertile females which take no part in reproduction. In 

 this case the queen never discharges any menial duties, 

 for these are attended to by the w^orkers ; she devotes 

 her entire time to laying eggs, which are cared for by 

 her subjects, who act as nurses and guards for the mon- 

 arch as well. The young workers serve at first as door- 

 keepers, and only later do they take the field in the 

 search for nectar and pollen, and work as house-build- 

 ers. Each individual performs its special task for its 

 own benefit and for the weal of all ; each possesses an 

 equal right to share in the prosperity of the whole com- 

 munity so long as it acts altruistically as well as egois- 

 tically. And just as the welfare of Hydra is superior to 

 that of any one of its constituent cells, so the well-being 

 of a hive of bees may be safeguarded only by the actual 

 sacrifice of some of its members. Should food supplies 

 be inadequate, the superfluous drones are stung to 

 death, — the victims of legalized murder. But more 

 marvelous still is the provision that is said to be made 

 by certain individuals for their own destruction should 

 this become desirable. As every one knows, a reigning 

 queen may leave the hive with many of her subjects and 

 ^' swarm" in a new locality. When she does this, dur- 

 ing the warm months, the workers of the original hive 

 feed some of the female larvae with richer food, and place 



