TREE vol. 8, no. 11, November 1993 books 
The conclusions are identical, but I 
find the comparative evolutionary 
approach builds a more solid frame- 
work for investigating language 
origins than does the cognitive 
simulation approach adopted in this 
eccentric book. 
As part of their journey exploring 
the evolution of human social insti- 
tutions, the authors also probe the 
concepts of deceipt and intentionality. 
I strongly doubt that Quiatt and 
Reynolds intended to deceive the 
readers, but the main title of their 
book transmits misleading infor- 
mation. Despite the title, this book 
is not about primate behaviour, but 
concentrates on describing the ori- 
gins of human social institutions, as 
indicated in the subtitle. The pedestal 
for the book is the linking of social 
cognition with complex societies, 
this link premised on the idea that a 
large neocortex evolved for rapid 
and efficient information processing 
that fosters complex social relation- 
ships. While not disputing the po- 
tential veracity of this reasonable 
perspective, one should remember 
Charles Darwin's6 thoughts on the 
subject: '...no one supposes that the 
intellect of any two animals or of any 
two men can be accurately gauged 
by the cubic contents of their skulls. 
Sociality of Wasps 
Behaviour and Social Evolution of Wasps: 
The Communal Aggregation Hypothesis 
by Y. Ito, Oxford University Press, 
1993. ?30.00 hbk, ?13.50 pbk (viii + 
159 pages) ISBN 0 19 854683 / 
0 19 8540469 
The social insects have long served 
to test theories of social evolution, yet 
the evolution of insect sociality is still 
the subject of intricate controversy. 
This book unabashedly attempts to 
generate still more debate, and with 
it to 'stimulate new approaches ... 
even if the findings do not support 
[the central] hypothesis' - namely, 
the 'communal aggregation hypoth- 
esis' of wasp sociality. Called the 
'mutualistic aggregation hypothesis' 
in the text, this is an extension of the 
'semisocial' hypothesis of Lin and 
Michener1, who proposed that eu- 
sociality originated in the Hymenop- 
tera (wasps, ants and bees) via a 
'semisocial' stage, with mutualistic 
females of the same generation, not 
necessarily close kin, living in groups 
due to the advantages of communal 
defense.   Ito   extends  this  idea  to 
It is certain that there may be ex- 
traordinary mental activity with an 
extremely small absolute mass of 
nervous matter...Under this point of 
view, the brain of an ant is one of 
the most marvellous atoms of mat- 
ter in the world, perhaps more so 
than the brain of a man.' 
Fred B. Bercovitch 
Caribbean Primate Research Center, University 
of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, PO 
Box 1053, Sabana Seca, PR 00952 USA 
References 
1 Dawkins, R. and Krebs, J.R. (1978) in 
Behavioral Ecology: An Evolutionary 
Approach (Krebs, J.R. and Davies, N.B., 
eds), pp. 282-309, Blackwell 
2 Altmann, S.A. (1965) J. Theor. Biol. 8, 
490-522 
3 Washburn, S.L. (1972) in Evolutionary 
Biology (Vol. 6) (Dobzhansky, T., Hecht, 
M.K. and Steere, W.C., eds), pp. 349-360, 
Appleton-Century-Crofts 
4 Washburn, S.L, and Harding, 
R.S.O. (1970) in The Neurosciences: 
Second Study Program (Schmitt, P.O., 
ed.), pp. 39-47, Rockefeller University 
Press 
5 Snowdon, C.T. (1990) Yearb. Phys. 
Anthropol. 33, 215-243 
6 Darwin, C.R. (1871) The Descent of 
Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, 
Murray 
visualize a history of unbroken poly- 
gyny, with permanently multiqueen 
Cpolygynous') colonies of highly 
social swarming wasps evolving 
from primitively social groups, with- 
out the single-queen ('monogynous') 
stage usually thought to have 
occurred. 
Although unbroken polygyny was 
earlier mentioned as a possibility2, 
neither corroborated or denied by 
evidence available at that time (1978), 
a cladistic analysis of social wasps 
by Carpenter3 suggested that long- 
term monogyny probably intervened 
before the evolution of the polygyn- 
ous swarming species. In this book 
Ito challenges Carpenter's conclusion. 
He attempts to focus renewed at- 
tention on the importance of pol- 
ygyny and mutualism (as opposed to 
dominance hierarchies and kin selec- 
tion) in discussions of social wasp 
evolution. 
Ito's defense of the mutualistic 
aggregation hypothesis is only partly 
successful, for reasons freely ad- 
mitted by the author himself. He 
states at the outset that his evidence 
is 'incomplete' and that he will make 
'no attempt to pursue an exhaustive 
review of all the literature that is 
relevant to such theoretical debates'. 
He realizes that most of his own 
field studies have been 'short and 
intermittent'. Indeed, the fragmen- 
tary and incongruent nature of the 
data make comparison difficult. So 
the unbroken-polygyny issue is ulti- 
mately left pending: the fact that 
multiple queens occur in both primi- 
tively eusocial societies of Ropalidia 
wasps, as well as 'highly eusocial' 
swarming species (containing mor- 
phologically distinct castes) does not 
necessarily support a hypothesis of 
continuous polygyny as suggested 
(p. 134), since both could be sec- 
ondary to a monogynous stage, as 
argued by Carpenter3. This issue can- 
not be settled without reference to 
phylogeny (see Ref. 4). Furthermore, 
it is probably a mistake to visualize 
mutualism as an interpretation op- 
posed to kin selection and the oc- 
currence of dominance interactions; 
I know of no way to explain the per- 
sistence of sterile castes in a mutu- 
alistic society except as a conse- 
quence of social dominance, with kin 
selection favoring the collaboration 
of (sterile) subordinates. 
In spite of the present weakness 
of support for Ito's argument, it may 
accomplish the author's primary aim, 
which is to stimulate further research. 
It is clear from reading this book, for 
example, that there is still no con- 
clusive demonstration of permanent 
polygyny in any species of social 
wasp - a major gap in research on 
this group, since permanent polygyny 
is a prominent feature of theoretical 
discussions. 
This book develops ideas first pre- 
sented in an earlier one (1986) titled 
Karibati no syakai-sinka. Any sup- 
posedly expert reviewer who, like me, 
cannot even guess that this means 
'social evolution of wasps' must ac- 
knowledge the achievement of Ito 
and others now writing so lucidly in 
a language (English) so distant from 
their own native tongues. For this, 
extra credit is due. 
Mary Jane West-Eberhard 
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, 
c/o Escuela de Biologia, 
Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica 
References 
1 Lin, N. and Michener, CD. (1972) 
Quart. Rev. Biol. 47, 131-159 
2 West-Eberhard, M.J. (1978) J. Kansas 
Entomol. Soc. 51, 832-856 
3 Carpenter, J.M. (1959) Cladistics 5, 
131-144 
4 Ross, KG. and Carpenter, J.M. (1991) 
J. Evol. Biol. 4, 117-130 
421