INSECT SOCIETIES. 251 



to us people of the earth, not only as patterns of industry, but 

 also of political economy, and have been cited not only as 

 arguments for monarchy, but as models also of monarchical 

 government. That men might, nevertheless, just as well 

 attempt to build their cities after the pattern of a honey-comb, 

 as to mould their institutions after those of the honey-comb's 

 inhabitants, is evidenced, we should think, even in our little 

 romance. Leigh Hunt has painted in amusing colours the 

 egregious absurdity of such an imitation,* and the same will 

 appear every whit as strongly in the following out-line sketch 

 of the interior of a hive. 



Insect societies, such as those of Bees, Wasps, Ants, and 

 White Ants, or Termites, are, in fact, things sui generis, 

 standing by themselves ; they present natural pictures to which, 

 throughout the animal kingdom, no pendants are to be found, 

 and it is this which makes them doubly interesting. A well- 

 peopled hive consists of one queen, several hundred males or 

 drones, and many thousand workers, the latter of which are all 

 imperfect females, though bearing no resemblance, either in 

 size or habits, to the pampered individual who nominally fills 

 the throne, and actually fills the hive by supplying its abundant 

 population. 



The royal female to whom this endowment of surpassing pro- 

 ductiveness forms the very charter of her authority, the very 

 bond by which she holds the hearts of her devoted subjects, 



* In the Indicator. 



