4 THE SUBJECT IN GENEEAL 



The vast majority of the aculeate Hymen- 

 optera are what are called " solitary ", i.e. one 

 male and one female alone are interested in the 

 production of the nest ; but there are also three 

 " social " groups the ants, the true wasps, and 

 the humble and hive bees. 



These" are called social because they form 

 communities and all work together towards the 

 maintenance of the nest. In the social species 

 there are two forms of the females the queens 

 and the workers ; these latter have the ovaries 

 imperfectly developed, and in the humble bees and 

 wasps they only differ outwardly from the fully 

 developed females or queens by being smaller. 

 In the ants, however, the workers are wingless, 

 and of a very different form from that of the 

 queen. The role of these workers seems to be 

 to do the general work of the nest ; they have 

 been known to lay fertile eggs, but the resulting 

 offspring has always been male. 



Between these conditions of solitary and 

 social we know of no actually intermediate 

 stages. We do not seem to see any attempts 

 on the part of solitary bees to become social 

 or vice versa. The only condition known which 



