880 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



dry sugar are consumed by a liivo of bees for the secre- 

 tion of a pound of wax; so that a prodigious quantity of 

 fluid nectar must be collected and consumed by the bees 

 in a hive for the secretion of the wax necessary for the 

 construction of their combs. Moreover, many bees have 

 to remain idle for many days during the process of se- 

 cretion. 



A large store of honey is indispensable to support 

 a large stock of bees during the winter; and the security 

 of the hive is known mainly to depend on a large num- 

 ber of bees being supported. Hence the saving of wax 

 by largely saving honey and the time consumed in col- 

 lecting the honey must be an important element of suc- 

 cess to any family of bees. Of course the success of 

 the species may be dependent on the number of its 

 enemies, or parasites, or on quite distinct causes, and 

 so be altogether independent of the quantity of honey 

 which the bees can collect. But let us suppose that this 

 latter circumstance determined, as it probably often has 

 determined, whether a bee allied to our humble-bees 

 could exist in large numbers in any country; and let us 

 further suppose that the community lived through the 

 winter, and consequently required a store of honey: there 

 can in this case be no doubt that it would be an advan- 

 tage to our imaginary humble-bee if a slight modification 

 in her instincts led her to make her waxen cells near 

 together, so as to intersect a little; for a wall in common 

 even to two adjoining cells would save some little labor 

 and wax. 



Hence it would continually be more and more ad- 

 vantageous to our humble-bees if they were to make 

 their cells more and more regular, nearer together, and 



