The Progress of the Race 
metempsychosis, and re-incarnate itself, 
trembling with its last triumph, rendered 
all-powerful now and nearly perfect, in 
another group, the last but one of the 
race, that which immediately precedes our 
domestic bee wherein it attains its crown; 
the group of the Méeliponite, which 
comprises the tropical Melipone and 
Trigone. 
[ 108 ] 
Here the organisation is as complete as 
in our hives. There is an unique mother, 
there are sterile workers and males. Cer- 
tain details even seem better devised. The 
males, for instance, are not wholly idle ; 
they secrete wax. The entrance to the 
hive is more carefully guarded; it has a 
door that can be closed when nights are 
cold, and when these are warm a kind of 
curtain will admit the air. 
But the republic is less strong, general 
26 401 
