WILD BEES 51 



missing. She never returned, but the affairs of the 

 colony went on as I should have otherwise expected 

 until all the bees dispersed at the usual time. It 

 is likely that the old queen is one of the first to 

 leave the nest towards the end of the season, and 

 it is not improbable that after spending the autumn 

 like the younger queens she should in some cases 

 survive till the second season. 



As far as my observation of the humble bee goes, 

 I have found the individuals more intelligent than 

 those of the hive bees. This may seem strange 

 considering the work and the wonderful social 

 organization of the latter. Yet it is doubtless in 

 result, to quote from Mr. Herbert Spencer, a ques- 

 tion of altruism versus egoism. The specialized 

 instincts of the hive bee have been for countless 

 generations developed on the strictest lines of 

 altruism, that is for the benefit of the colony rather 

 than of the individual bee. A glaring example of 

 this altruism carried to its extreme limits is witnessed 

 when the hive bee. Spartan-like in its public spirit, 

 but pathetic in its stupidity, sacrifices itself on the 

 smallest provocation for the good of the common- 

 wealth, when it inflicts a slightly more serious wound 

 by leaving its barbed sting, which it cannot with- 

 draw, rankUng in the flesh of the intruder, and 

 dying itself from the injury caused by the loss of 

 it. So it is with most of its instincts ; they have 

 been developed and specialized for the good of the 

 community and do not necessarily imply what might 

 have been looked for as a corresponding degree of 

 intelligence in the individual. When the htunble 

 bees long ago branched off from the parent stock, 

 the individuals of the species were doubtless still 



