The Progress of the Race 
the other, banishes for all time the living 
elements of the problem, and explains 
nothing. 
[ 104 ] 
Of wild bees approximately 4500 vari- 
eties are known. It need scarcely be said 
that we shall not go through the list. 
Some day, perhaps, a profound study, 
and searching experiments and observa- 
tions of a kind hitherto unknown, that 
would demand more than one lifetime, 
will throw a decisive light upon the his- 
tory of the’ bee’s evolution. All that 
we can do now is to enter this veiled re- 
gion of supposition, and, discarding all posi- 
tive statement, attempt to follow a tribe 
of hymenoptera in their progress towards 
a mote intelligent existence, towards a little 
more security and comfort, lightly indi- 
cating the salient features of this ascen- 
sion that is spread over many thousands 
387 
