214 THE LIFE OF THE BEE 



features of this ascension that is spread over many thousands of 

 years. The tribe in question is already known to us ; it is that 

 of the " Apiens," whose essential characteristics are so distinct 

 and well marked that one is inclined to credit all its members 

 with one common ancestor/ 



The disciples of Darwin, Hermann Miiller among others, 

 consider a little wild bee, the Prosopis, which is to be found all 

 over the universe, as the actual representative of the primitive 

 bee whence all have issued that are known to us to-day. 



The unfortunate Prosopis stands more or less in the same 

 relation to the inhabitants of our hives as the cave-dwellers to 

 the fortunate who live in our great cities. You will probably 

 more than once have seen her fluttering about the bushes, in 

 a deserted corner of your garden, without realising that you 

 were carelessly watching the venerable ancestor to whom we 

 probably owe most of our flowers and fruits (for it is actually 

 estimated that more than a hundred thousand varieties of plants 

 would disappear if the bees did not visit them), and possibly 

 even our civilisation, for in these mysteries all things intertwine. 

 She is nimble and attractive, the variety most common in France 

 being elegantly marked with white on a black background. 

 But this elegance hides an inconceivable poverty. She leads a 

 life of starvation. She is almost naked, whereas her sisters are 

 clad in a warm and sumptuous fleece. She has not, like the 

 Apidffi, baskets to gather the pollen, nor, in their default, the 



* It is important that the terms we shall successively employ, adopting the classifica- 

 tion of M. Emile Blanchard— Apiens, Apidae, and Apitas— should not be confounded. The 

 tribe of the Apiens comprises all families of bees. The Apidte constitute the first of these 

 families, and are subdivided into three groups : the Meliponae, the Apits, and the 

 Bombi (humble-bees). And, finally, the Apitas include all the different varieties of our 

 domestic bees, 



