WILD BEES 59 



peculiar endowments working together for the good 

 of the species, there can be no reasonable doubt ; 

 nevertheless, the mind cannot withhold its tribute 

 of admiration when we consider the exquisite adjust- 

 ment of means to that end here presented, and reflect 

 what the steps must have been before the present 

 advanced stage towards perfection had been attained. 

 The males of the humble bee are an interesting 

 section of the community. They differ in colour 

 from the females and are more brightly marked, 

 but it is peculiar that there is no permanence of 

 pattern, the males of the same species differing in 

 the arrangement and intensity of the colours dis- 

 played. Besides other structural peculiarities they 

 possess much longer antennas than the females, 

 and like the drones of the hive bees they are not 

 armed with a sting. Comparing them with these 

 latter one cannot help being struck, here as else- 

 where, with the greatness of the penalty which the 

 individuals amongst the hive bees have had to 

 pay for the social organization which has contributed 

 so much to the success of the species in the great 

 struggle for existence. The male bee of the Bombus 

 family is still far from having become the helpless 

 pitiful creature which we find his male relative the 

 hive drone to be. True, nature has already made it 

 clear that he is a creature of infinitely less importance 

 to her than the females who are to carry on the 

 species ; but beyond this he is not to be despised. 

 Although he has no sting he submits to no dictation 

 from the neuters in the nest, for he leaves it imme- 

 diately, and what is more important, he is under 

 no necessity of returning, for he can forage for himself 

 among the flowers, and he is not therefore like the 



