271 
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Mr. Darwin and Professor Weismann differ in the way 
in which they state the first point. Mr. Darwin says :— 
“It can be shown that some insects and other articulate animals in 
a state of nature occasionally become sterile ; and if such insects 
had been social, and it had been profitable to the community that 
a number should have been annually born capable of work but 
incapable of procreation, I can see no special difficulty in this having 
been effected through Natural Selection.”— (Origm of Species. p.22Q.) 
“We may conclude from the analogy of ordinary variations that 
the successive slight profitable modifications did not first arise in all 
the neuters in the same nest, but in some few alone ; and that by the 
survival of the communities with females which produced most neuters 
having the advantageous modification, all the neuters ultimately came 
to be thus characterised.”—(Origin of Species, p. 231.) 
Dr. Weismann, professing to interpret Mr. Darwin, repre 
sents him as saying something very different from what 
he actually asserted. 
“ Darwin discussed the existence of neuters in the insect states. 
He accounted for their origin by supposing that a selection of the 
fruitful females must have taken place, inasmuch as females which 
produced sterile offspring, in addition to fruitful issue, were of special 
value to the state ; for the existence of members that were workers 
only was a gain to it and strengthened it, and assured it a superiority 
over other colonies that had no workers. So in course of time the 
states with workers conquered those with none, and in the end caused 
them to disappear. In the same way all the variations among the 
workers arose to make them more fit to be of service to the state.”— 
( The Contemporary Review, vol. Ixiv., p. 314.) 
Professor Weismann’s way of stating the case renders it 
more easy to understand how one nest should survive in 
the struggle for existence, while another should succumb. 
But I am not aware that there is any evidence to show 
that there are families which have a certain number of 
neuters and others which have none ; and, indeed, one 
would not expect to find them, for the association of 
social insects seems to be based upon the production of 
these workers.