440 HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 



increasing the families of the better types as 

 well as of decreasing those of the worse. 



Finally for those who are denied the privi- 

 lege of parenthood and upon whom sterility 

 is forced by whatever circumstances there is a 

 lesson of value among the social insects. The 

 sterile members of a colony of ants or bees are 

 forever denied the possibility of having off- 

 spring of their own, but they become foster 

 mothers to the offspring of the queen. They 

 tenderly nurse, care for and rear the young 

 of the colony. There are many children in the 

 world who need foster mothers and fathers; 

 there are many men and women in the world, 

 both married and unmarried, who need adop- 

 ted children. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; 

 consider her ways and be wise." 



