THE SOVEREIGN WORKER-BEE 129 



Each busy gang of labourers has apparently a 

 distinct and definite task allotted to it by the 

 central hive-authority ; co-operation and progress 

 are, to all appearances, deified cause and effect in 

 all the affairs of the hive. 



It is easy — nay, inevitable — in any close study 

 of bee-life with the help of the modern observation- 

 hive, to overset the ancient idea of absolute bee- 

 monarchy under a single king or queen. But it is 

 not so easy to determine how the general govern- 

 ment of the colony is actually carried on. Innu- 

 merable small consultations on minor matters are 

 seen to take place on every side during each 

 moment of the busy day ; but nothing like general 

 communication is ever visible. And yet, how are 

 the great national movements, such as the despatch 

 of a swarm or the supersedure of an old queen, 

 brought about ; how are the various common crises 

 of the State met, and provided for? The only 

 rational inference seems to be that each worker is 

 in herself the perfect evolved presentment of re- 

 publicanism, in whom all imaginable difficulties in 

 collective life have their best solution, tried and 

 proved through the ages, and resorted to un- 

 erringly as a matter of course. Thus a common 

 need is felt, and met instantaneously by a common, 

 recognised expedient. The judgment of one is 

 necessarily the judgment of all. Every problem 

 of daily life, however intricate, is solved by the one 

 device, brought to the fine point of perfection 

 9 



