As natural selection acts only by the accumulation of slight modifications
of structure or instinct, each profitable to the individual under its
conditions of life, it may reasonably be asked, how a long and graduated
succession of modified architectural instincts, all tending towards the
present perfect plan of construction, could have profited the progenitors
of the hive-bee? I think the answer is not difficult: cells constructed
like those of the bee or the wasp gain in strength, and save much in labour
and space, and in the materials of which they are constructed. With
respect to the formation of wax, it is known that bees are often hard
pressed to get sufficient nectar; and I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier that
it has been experimentally proved that from twelve to fifteen pounds of dry
sugar are consumed by a hive of bees for the secretion of a pound of wax;
so that a prodigious quantity of fluid nectar must be collected and
consumed by the bees in a hive for the secretion of the wax necessary for
the construction of their combs. Moreover, many bees have to remain idle
for many days during the process of secretion. A large store of honey is
indispensable to support a large stock of bees during the winter; and the
security of the hive is known mainly to depend on a large number of bees
being supported. Hence the saving of wax by largely saving honey, and the
time consumed in collecting the honey, must be an important element of
success any family of bees.
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