SOCIAL EVOLUTION AS A BIOLOGICAL PROCESS 261 



and nursing, so that their mother becomes a " queen " 

 who devotes her entire time to the special reproductive 

 task which she only can perform. We may justly 

 compare the queen to the reproductive organ of Hydra, 

 for the values to the life of the species are identical in 

 the two cases, while the various classes of workers are 

 counterparts of such units as the muscle and nerve and 

 nutritive components of the Hydra or any other cell- 

 community individual. Another resemblance between 

 the two is found in the death of all the sexless individuals 

 at the end of the season, when reproducing males and 

 females are finally formed, of whom the fertile queens 

 only survive in their winter hiding places ; and again 

 we can discover the cause for biological death in that 

 division of labor which calls upon certain members of 

 the whole community to perform tasks that have no 

 value when once provision has been made for perpetuat- 

 ing the species. Finally the mode by which the colony 

 grows and amplifies is in all respects like the embryonic 

 development of an egg into a Hydra, so that we may add 

 the phrase " social embryology " to our vocabulary. The 

 original female is an undifferentiated master of all 

 trades; the small tribe she first establishes is little 

 better off than a horde of savages ; but during its sea- 

 sonal existence the community increases in numbers 

 and complexity until it advances well toward the civi- 

 lized condition, when each class performs its special 

 task for the good of all. 



The bees take us higher in the scale, although many 

 solitary species occur, as well as social forms like the 

 bumblebees where colonies are formed in a single 

 season only to break up with the advent of cold weather. 



