ECOLOGICAL 127 



queen termite has almost become a fixed egg-producing machine, 

 verging on the pathological. 



One of the striking differences between civilised human society 

 and Wild Nature, v/ith which man has not interfered by crowd- 

 ing and over-preserving, is that disease is rife in the former and 

 almost absent, apart from parasitism, in the latter. In Wild 

 Nature it is difficult to find examples of occupational, environ 

 mental, constitutional, or even microbic disease, but it is noteworthy 

 that some approaches to diseased conditions occur in animal societies. 

 Both among ants and termites there are instances of guests or pets, 

 usually small beetles or Diptera, to which hospitality is shown, 

 usually because of certain exudations which are luxuries to the 

 hosts. Now these guests or pets sometimes sink into a degraded 

 condition called "physogastry". This means that the abdomen 

 becomes bloated and what might be roughly called dropsical. The 

 wings are lost, the eyes degenerate, the whole life becomes sluggish. 

 According to Wheeler, the modifications seen in the physogastric 

 guests of certain termites are directly referable to the stuffy, humid 

 atmosphere of the termitary, the cramped dark passages, and to 

 their over- abundant carbohydrate diet. But the important point is 

 that the queen termite herself is an instance of a like physogastric 

 state — she is a physiological martyr to exaggerated maternity in a 

 servile state. This is an obviously suggestive illustration of the fact 

 that a society may not only throw its shield over highly specialised 

 types, who could not stand alone as isolated individuals, but may 

 even shelter undesirable unhealthy types. This, as we know to our 

 cost, also tends to arise in man's so far civilised societies. 



In some instinctive societies, such as those of ants, bees, and 

 termites, we get another glimpse of a seamy, almost sinister, side. 

 The efficiency of the society may depend on arrangements which 

 are repellent to human ideals. It would be a gross anthropomorphism 

 to criticise these arrangements on that ground, for man's ethical 

 and artistic criteria are not here relevant; yet the facts show that 

 very effective social organisation is not necessarily entirely on the 

 lines of what man calls progress — an ideal which we venture 

 to define as including all movements towards health (i.e. a fuller 

 life), and towards wealth (i.e. an increased and more economical 

 mastery of Nature's energies), and all movements towards a diffused 

 and heightened embodiment and enjoyment of the true, the beautiful, 

 and the good. Now this human ideal has plainly to go far beyond 

 the world of social animals. 



A beehive displays a fine instance of wealth, perhaps the most 

 beautiful form of wealth in the world, the honey in the honeycomb. 

 There is also a fine display of health, for in spite of the Isle-of- Wight 

 acarine disease, and some microbic maladies — for which man's 

 greed and over-coddling may be responsible — there is outstanding 



