VARIATION. 



121 



the hive-bee, and, " so far as we can see, 

 absolutely perfect in economising labour 

 and work." This perfect structure did not, 

 therefore, arise either per saltum, or by 

 design, or by inventive faculty of the bee, 

 but by the fortuitous accumulations of slight 

 improvements. 



The progress from the irregular to the per- 

 fect cell must have been gradual, and many 

 steps in the process ought to be in evidence 

 among the various honey -gathering bees, 

 " but," says Darwin, " the intermediaries dis- 

 appeared in the struggle for existence." 



If they did, why does the more imperfect 

 structure of the melipona still survive ? 



The fact is that, so far as we know, there 

 is no evidence, direct or indirect, that the 

 comb of the first hive was not precisely the 

 same as it is now. The honeycomb as de- 

 picted 5000 years ago in Egyptian tombs is 

 the honeycomb of the present day. 



There is nothing in the character of these 

 various instincts, habits, or structures of the 

 different races of the Bee family to support 

 Darwin's hypothesis, that complex instincts 

 and perfect structures came by accumulation 

 of beneficial variations, or to justify his ex- 

 pectation that a complete fossil record of 



