The Progress of the Race 



able to form any conception of our moral, 

 social, political, economic or religious 

 evolution. 



The most likely of all the scientific 

 hypotheses will presently permit us to 

 connect our domestic bee with the great 

 tribe of the " Apiens," which embraces 

 all wild bees, and where its ancestors are 

 probably to be found. We shall then 

 perceive physiological, social, economic, 

 industrial, and architectural transforma- 

 tions more extraordinary than those of 

 our human evolution. But for the mo- 

 ment we will limit ourselves to our do- 

 mestic bee properly so called. Of these, 

 sixteen fairly distinct species are known ; 

 but, essentially, whether we consider the 

 Apis Dorsata, the largest known to us, or 

 the Apis Florea, which is the smallest, 

 the insect is always exactly the same, ex- 

 cept for the slight modifications induced 

 by the climate and by the conditions 



371 



