ISBN-13: 9780674953765, 978-0674953765. This book is about the inner workings of one of natures most complex animal societies: the honey bee colony. By showing how several thousand bees function together as an integrated whole to collect the nectar, pollen, and water that sustain the life of the hive, Seeley sheds light on one of the central puzzles of biology: how units at one level of organization can work together to form a higher-level entity.