350 Evolution and Adaptation 
MutruaL ADAPTATION OF COLONIAL FORMS 
In the white ants, true ants, and bees, we find certain in- 
dividuals of the community specialized in such a way that 
their modifications stand in certain useful relations to other 
members of the community. Amongst the bees, the workers 
collect the food, make the comb, and look after the young. 
The queen does little more than lay eggs, and the drone’s 
only function is to fertilize the queen. In the true ants there 
are, besides the workers and the queen and the males, the 
soldier caste. These have large thick heads and large strong 
jaws. On the Darwinian theory it is assumed that this caste 
must have an important rédle to play, for otherwise their pres- 
ence as a distinct group of forms cannot be accounted for ; 
but I do not believe it is necessary to find an excuse for 
their existence in their supposed utility. From the point of 
view of the mutation theory, their real value may be very 
small, but so long as their actual presence is not entirely 
fatal to the community they may be endured. 
In regard to these forms, Sharp writes:! “The soldiers 
are not alike in any two species of Termitidz, so far as we 
know, and it seems impossible to ascribe the differences that 
exist between the soldiers of different species of Termitidze 
to special adaptations for the work they have to perform.” 
“On the whole, it would be more correct to say that the 
soldiers are very dissimilar in spite of their having to perform 
similar work, than to state that they are dissimilar in con- 
formity with the different tasks they carry on.” The sol- 
diers have the same instincts as the workers, and do the 
same kinds of things to a certain extent. ‘The soldiers are 
not such effective combatants as the workers are.” State- 
ments such as these indicate very strongly that the origin of 
this caste can have very little to do with its importance as a 
specialized part of the community. 
1 “The Cambridge Natural History,” Vol. V, 1895. 
