Page 142 - The Miracle of the Honeybee

140 THE MIRACLE OF THE HONEYBEE

mula for millions of years?
How did bees manage to form the glands and organs necessary to pro-
duce such an ideal material as beeswax within their own bodies?
Assume for a moment that bees somehow managed to generate
beeswax, the raw material for their combs. But that success has no mean-
ing in isolation, because at the same time, the bee must also possess all the
technical knowledge and competence for the construction work it will
perform.
Also assume—no matter how impossible this may actually be—that by
chance, a bee did come into possession of all these attributes. That is still
not enough. The bee in question would also need to teach its knowledge to

the other members of the colony, which must form the necessary systems
for producing beeswax in their own bodies. Moreover, that bee also has to
transmit this information and system of production to subsequent genera-
tions.
In addition, bees must also know about division of labor that lets them
all work together. It is not enough for every bee to possess the knowledge
and competence to construct combs; they also need the conscious intelli-
gence with which to establish the requisite organization. Such questions

Producing wax is a rather difficult, laborious
process. Honeybees extract it from their wax
glands in pieces no larger than a pinhead. The
photos show bees making honeycombs.