CHAPTER IX 



ANIMAL COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL LIFE 



83. Man not the only social animal Man is commonly 

 called the social animal, but he is not the only one to 

 which this term may be applied. There are many others 

 which possess a social or communal life. A moment's 

 thought brings to mind the familiar facts of the communal 

 life of the honey-bee and of the ants. And there are many 

 other kinds of animals, not so well known to us, that live 

 in communities or colonies, and live a life which in greater 

 or less degree is communal or social. In this connection 

 we may use the term communal for the life of those ani- 

 mals in which the division of labor is such that the indi- 

 vidual is dependent for its continual existence on the com- 

 munity as a whole. The term social life would refer to a 

 lower degree of mutual aid and mutual dependence. 



84. The honey-bee. Honey-bees live together, as we 

 know, in large communities. We are accustomed to think 

 of honey-bees as the inhabitants of bee-hives, but there 

 were bees before there were hives. The "bee-tree" is 

 familiar to many of us. The bees, in Nature, make their 

 home in the hollow of some dead or decaying tree-trunk, 

 and carry on there all the industries which characterize 

 the busy communities in the hives. A honey-bee com- 

 munity comprises three kinds of individuals (Fig. 88) 

 namely, a fertile female or queen, numerous males or 

 drones, and many infertile females or workers. These 

 three kinds of individuals differ in external appearance 

 sufficiently to be readily recognizable. The workers are 



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