94 



THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. 



fact could not themselves consume all the honey that 

 they have elaborated ; the others in times of famine 

 approach them, caress them with their antennae, and 

 obtain by solicitation a drop of honey which the large 

 ones disgorge from the crop. Here, then, is a colony 

 an which the division of labour has reached a remark- 



able degree of polymorphism. Some of the members 

 accomplish the work of engineers and masons, while 

 the others fabricate for the community a store of 

 honey. Instead of depositing these provisions in 

 cells like bees, they preserve them in their own 

 digestive tube. This custom has re-acted to such an 



