CHAPTER IX 
ANIMAL COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL LIFE 
83. Man not the only social animal.—Man is commonly 
called the social animal, but he is not the only one to 
which this term may be applied. There are many others 
which possess a social or communal life. A moment's 
thought brings to mind the familiar. facts of the communal 
life of the honey-bee and of the ants. And there are many 
other kinds of animals, not so well known to us, that live 
in communities or colonies, and live a life which in greater 
or less degree is communal or social. In this connection 
we may use the term communal for the life of those ani- 
mals in which the division of labor is such that the indi- 
vidual is dependent for its continual existence on the com- 
munity asa whole. The term social life would refer to a 
lower degree of mutual aid and mutual dependence. 
84. The honey-bee.—Honey-bees live together, as we 
know, in large communities. We are accustomed to think 
of honey-bees as the inhabitants of bee-hives, but there 
were bees before there were hives. The “bee-tree” is 
familiar to many of us. The bees, in Nature, make their 
home in the hollow of some dead or decaying tree-trunk, 
and carry on there all the industries which characterize 
the busy communities in the hives. A honey-bee com- 
munity comprises three kinds of individuals (Fig. 88)— 
namely, a fertile female or queen, numerous males or 
drones, and many infertile females or workers. These 
three kinds of individuals differ in external appearance 
sufficiently to be readily recognizable. The workers are 
11 149 
