1 62 VESTIGES OF THE 



to certain effects, only somewhat short of a transition 

 from species to species. Sex we have seen to be a matter 

 of development. There is an instance, in a humble de- 

 partment of the animal world, of arrangements being- 

 made by the animals themselves for adjusting this law^ 

 to the production of a particular sex. Amongst bees, as 

 amongst sevei-al other insect tribes, there is in each com- 

 munity but one true female, the queen bee, the workers 

 being false females or neuters; that is to say, sex is 

 carried on in them to a point where it is attended by 

 sterility. The preparatory states of the queen bee occupy 

 sixteen days ; those of the neuters, twenty -, and those of 

 males, twenty-four. Now it is a fact, settled by innu- 

 merable observations and experiments, that the bees can 

 so modify a worker in the larva state, that when it 

 emerges from the pupa, it is found to be a queen or true 

 female. For this purpose they enlarge its cell, make a 

 pyramidal hollow to allow of its assuming a vertical in- 

 stead of a horizontal position, keep it warmer than other 

 larvae are kept, and feed it with a peculiar kind of food. 

 From these simple circum. stances, leading to a shortening 

 of the embryotic condition, results a creature different in 

 form, and also in dispositions, from what would have 

 otherwise been produced. Some of the organs possessed 

 by the worker are here altogether wanting. We have a 

 creature '' destined to enjoy love, to burn with jealousy 

 and anger, to be incited to vengeance, and to pass her 

 time without labour," instead of one " zealous for the 

 good of the community, a defender of the public rights, 

 enjoying an iDimunity from the stimulus of sexual appe- 

 tite and the pains of parturition ; laborious, industrious, 

 patient, ingenious, skilful; incessantly engaged in the 

 nurture of the young, in collecting honey and pollen, in 

 elaboi-ating wax, in constructing- cells and the like 1 — 



