ATTRACTION OF THE QUEEN 177 

 conditions ; hence the passing from place to 

 place of a large number of insects, flying in 

 company, is effected with absolute certainty. 

 The queen has a strong attractive power, 

 distinct from sexual attraction, seeing that 

 those subject to her spell are " neuters " (un- 

 developed females). It also seems fairly 

 certain that the swarming bees are not in- 

 fluenced by sight, for, ignoring the fact that 

 insects have a short range of vision, the bulk of 

 them cannot obtain a glimpse of the queen, so 

 completely is she blotted out by an inner wall 

 of the insects themselves. 



Now the units composing this seething mass 

 are exactly of the same size and pattern ; the 

 queen, on the contrary, is much larger and 

 different in form, so that she is easily dis- 

 tinguished by the human eye with a reasoning 

 sense of proportion. The inference to be drawn 

 from this unusual divergence — according to 

 my argument — ^is, that though not one of the 

 community, of whatever description, possesses 

 an atom of intelligence, all are imbued with 

 subconscious mentality ; but in the queen 

 there is centred a nucleus — ^a larger share than 

 possessed by any other single unit. This 

 may very well be, when we come to consider 

 the vitality (the Force-of-Life) in this abnor- 

 mal creature, the Queen-Mother, who has it in 



