360 THE BIOLOGY OF THE SEASONS 



on the complexity of the bodily machinery, on the accumu- 

 lation of arrears in the process of repair, on the limits 

 which are set to the multiplication or renewal of cells, and 

 also on the occurrence of organically expensive modes 

 of reproduction. 



The general idea is that the wear and tear is not quite 

 counteracted by food and rest. The recuperation is often 

 incomplete, and there is an accumulation of physiological 

 arrears. The organism gets quickly or slowly into debt. 

 The items may be infinitesimal, and in many animals a 

 violent death comes before their accumulation begins to 

 tell. In other cases they mount up and lead to that physio- 

 logical insolvency which we call senescence and death. 



The case of the worker hive-bee illumines the whole 

 subject. In our childhood many of us who are constitu- 

 tionally fond of laziness used to be urged to consider " the 

 little busy bee" which "improves each shining hour," but 

 a more intimate and critical knowledge of bees and their 

 behaviour has entirely shaken our confidence in this exem- 

 plar of our childhood. Let us lift only one corner of the 

 seamy side, by asking how the shining hour improves the 

 busy bee. When we ask this question we find that the 

 worker hive-bee grows old with extraordinary rapidity, and 

 often dies a few weeks after its industry begins. It grows 

 old while it is still young, a victim to over-exertion. With 

 all its getting, it gets not wisdom, but foolishness, for its 

 brain-cells go steadily and surely out of gear. A large 

 number pass into a state of irrecoverable fatigue- collapse. 

 As Professor Hodge says : " The nerve cells, in the course 

 of the bee's daily work, gradually cease to be functional, 

 and die off, until no more are left than are sufficient 

 for the necessary vital functions." Thus the premature 

 growing old of the bee is a warning against over-industry. 



We have sketched what may be called the general 



