SOCIAL COMMUNITIES OF BEES AND ANTS | 205 
whole. The animal “ word,’ if we like so to term it, is an 
isolated brick; a dozen, or even a couple of hundred such 
bricks do not constitute a building. Language, properly so 
called, is the builded structure, be it a palace or only a cottage ; 
hen language, or monkey language, is, at best, so far as we at 
present have evidence, an unfashioned heap of bricks. It is 
just because language is the expression of a portion of a scheme 
of thought that it indicates in the speaker the possession of a 
rational soul, capable of perceiving and symbolizing the 
relationships of things as reflected in thought. 
Herein lies the practical value, for human advance in 
mental development, of language as a means of descriptive 
intercommunication. It renders explicit relationships other- 
wise merely implicit, and forces them to the front ; and since 
these relationships are the stuff of which knowledge is built — 
without the realization of which any complex ideal scheme is 
impossible of attainment—the importance of descriptive inter- 
communication can scarcely be overestimated. And though 
there is no conclusive evidence of its occurrence among 
animals, yet we have in them the instinctive and intelligent 
basis on which in due course of evolution it may be securely 
based. 
III.—SocraL CoMMUNITIES OF BEES AND ANTS 
Apart from human societies the most noteworthy social 
communities of animals are found among insects, especially in 
ants, bees, wasps, and termites. It is true that in the mam- 
malia we find such communities as the troop of apes, the herd 
of cattle, the pack of wolves, the school of porpoises, the so- 
called ‘‘rookeries” of seals, and the colonies of “ prairie 
dogs” and of beavers; and that among birds there are 
analogous communities. Undoubtedly the temporary or per- 
manent association of many individuals is in such cases an 
advantage to the race, and confers mutual benefits on the 
associates. But in none of these cases is division of labour 
carried to such a high degree as among the social insects. 
