THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEE AND THE BEEHIVE
By Sir Arthur Everett Shipley
Master of Christ’s College, Cambridge
For so work the honey-bees,
Creatures that, by a rule in nature, teach
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king and officers of sorts,
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home.
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
Others, like soldiers armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer’s velvet buds,
Which pillage they with merry march bring home.
Shakespeare.
In a primitive and savage state of society each individual of a tribe is a host in himself. He is at once a
Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor,
’Pothecary, ploughboy, thief,
and except that he cannot very well be his own undertaker he performs all the functions of the various traders and professional experts that in a more civilized state of society are carried on by numerous men, each suitably trained for one pursuit, and generally for only one. The North American Indians built their own wigwams, tilled the soil, fished, hunted, fought in tribal wars, and engaged in other activities. The women took a large part in the drudgery of life—cooking, tending the young, helping in shifting the camp. But as affairs became more complicated a higher social order was
[ 186 ]
