the child, and the child from its
father, giving it only to the mother, is a step backward and not
forward.

And in case any woman is inclined still to admire the position of the
female worker-bees, so free in labour, being liberated from sexual
activity, it were well to consider the sacrifice at which such freedom
is gained. These workers have highly-developed brains, but most of
them die young. Nor must we forget that each one carries her poisoned
sting--no new or strange weapon, but a transformation of a part of her
very organ of maternity--the ovipositor, or egg-placer, with which the
queen-mother lays each egg in its appointed place.[36]

Do "the Intellectuals" understand what they really want? Those women
who are raising the cry increasingly for individual liberty, without
considering the results which may follow from such a one-sided growth
both to themselves and to the race--let them pause to remember the
price paid by the sterile worker-bee. Is it unfair to suggest that any
such shirking for the gains of personal freedom of their woman's right
and need of love and child-bearing may lead in the psychical sphere to
a result similar to the transformation of the sex-organ of the bee;
and that, giving up the power of life, they will be left the possessor
of the stinging weapon of death! Some such considerations may help
women to decide whether it is better to be a mother or a sterile
worker.

The second example I want to consider is that of the common spider,
whose curious courtship customs are described by Darwin.[37] Here we
find the relatively gigantic female seizing and devouring the tiny
male fertiliser, as he seeks to perform the only duty for which he
exists. This is a case of female superiority carried to a savage
conclusion. The male in these courtships often has to risk his life
many times, and it seems only to be by an accident that he ever
escapes alive from the embraces of his infuriated partner. I will give
an example, taken from the _mantes_, or praying insect, where, though
the difference in size between the sexes is much less than among many
spiders, the ferocity of the female is extraordinary. This case is
quoted by Professor Lester Ward,[38] who gives it on the authority of
Dr. L.O. Howard, one of the best-known entomologists--

"A few days since I brought a male or _Mantes carolina_ to a
friend who had been keeping a solitary female as a pet. Placing
them in the same jar, the ma