Chapter VII (of the first edition) addresses the evolution of instincts. His examples included two he had investigated experimentally: slave-making ants and the construction of hexagonal cells by honey bees. Darwin noted that some species of slave-making ants were more dependent on slaves than others, and he observed that many ant species will collect and store the pupae of other species as food. He thought it reasonable that species with an extreme dependency on slave workers had evolved in incremental steps. He suggested that bees that make hexagonal cells evolved in steps from bees that made round cells, under pressure from natural selection to economise wax. Darwin concluded:
Is there an answer to this question (If it cannot be answered, say "unanswerable"): How does Darwin theorize that instincts have evolved in slave-making ants?
He thought it reasonable that species with an extreme dependency on slave workers had evolved in incremental steps.