1 8 THE LIFE OF THE BEE 



may be in a different world ; and this will is revealed with 

 extraordinary clearness in the evolution of the hymenoptera, 

 which, of all the inhabitants of this globe, possess the highest 

 degree of intellect after that of man. The aim of nature is 

 manifestly the improvement of the race ; but no less manifest 

 is her inabihty, or refusal, to obtain such improvement except 

 at the cost of the liberty, the rights and the happiness of 

 the individual. In proportion as a society organises itself, and 

 rises in the scale, so does a shrinkage enter the private life 

 of each one of its members. Where there is progress, it is 

 the result only of a more and more complete sacrifice of the 

 individual to the general interest. Each one is compelled first 

 of all to renounce his vices, which are acts of independence. 

 For instance, at the last stage but one of apiarian civilisation, 

 we find the humble-bees, which are like our cannibals. The 

 adult workers are incessantly hovering around the eggs which 

 they seek to devour, and the mother has to display the utmost 

 stubbornness in their defence. Then having freed himself from 

 his most dangerous vices, each individual has to acquire a cer- 

 tain number of more and more painful virtues. Among the 

 humble-bees, for instance, the workers do not dream of re- 

 nouncing love, whereas our domestic bee lives in a state of 

 perpetual chastity. And indeed we soon shall show how much 

 more she has to abandon, in exchange for the comfort and 

 security of the hive, for its architectural, economic, and poli- 

 tical perfection, and we shall return to the extraordinary evolu- 

 tion of the hymenoptera in the chapter devoted to the progress 

 of the race. 



