The Progress of the Race 
able to form any conception of our moral, 
social, political, economic or religious 
evolution. 
The most likely of all the scientific 
hypotheses will presently permit us to 
connect our domestic bee with the great 
tribe of the “ Apiens,” which embraces 
all wild bees, and where its ancestors are 
probably to be found. We shall then 
perceive physiological, social, economic, 
industrial, and architectural transforma- 
tions more extraordinary than those of 
our human evolution. But for the mo- 
ment we will limit ourselves to our do- 
mestic bee properly so called. Of these, 
sixteen fairly distinct species are known; 
but, essentially, whether we consider the 
Apis Dorsata, the largest known to us, or 
the Apis Florea, which is the smallest, 
the insect is always exactly the same, ex- 
cept for the slight modifications induced 
by the climate and by the conditions 
371 
