Abstract
IN “The Origin of Species,” p. 242, fourth edition, Mr. Darwin says, “If we look at the sting of the bee as having originally existed in a remote progenitor as a boring and serrated instrument, like that in so many members of the same great order, and which has been modified, but not perfected, for its present purpose, with the poison, originally adapted for some purpose such as to produce galls, subsequently intensified, we can, perhaps, understand how it is that the use of the sting should so often cause the insect's own death; for if, on the whole, the power of stinging be useful to the social community, it will fulfil all the requirements of natural selection, though it may cause the death of some few members.” In a lecture given as it happens, this day ten years ago, I ventured to suggest that bees may have derived advantage, not in spite of the fatal condition annexed to the use of their sting, but from that condition itself, since “it may have proved expedient for a creature to be armed with a weapon capable of inspiring terror, yet so contrived, that its possessor should of necessity be peaceful towards its neighbours”. It is very certain that many gentle-hearted human beings wage remorseless war upon wasps, who would never think of harming a bee or a bluebottle. On the other hand there are many mischievous persons ready enough to trifle with the feelings of a bluebottle, who keep at a respectful distance from a bee, simply because they know it possesses a certain power of revenge. In this way the sting is not, as your correspondent “R. A.” is inclined to think, worse than useless to the individual bee, but an effective protection, albeit rather as a shield than a sword. What is needed for its efficacy is not so much intelligence in the bee as in those who would otherwise attack the bee, and though to the individual bee a single experience ending in its own death could be of no avail, yet the other animal, the wounded survivor in the fray, would have its understanding wonderfully quickened to the advantage of all bees it might meet in the future.
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STEBBING, T. The Sting of the Bee. Nature 19, 314 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/019314b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/019314b0
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