  It is unclear why Socrates finds himself in doubt about the existence of forms for natural kinds (such as humans and water) and stuffs or mixtures (such as hair and mud). For some commentators, Socrates simply makes “a wrong admission” as a result of his youth and inexperience (Allen 1997, 124; see also Sayre 1996, 74). After all, Plato alludes to a form of bee at Meno 72b–c, a form of shuttle at Cratylus 389d, and forms of bed and of table at Republic 596b. Although shuttles, tables, and beds are artifacts, and hence perhaps relevantly different from natural kinds, such as human beings and water, there seems no reason to think that humans differ from bees in regard to whether they have corresponding forms. However, it is difficult to understand why Plato would pen a conversation in which a character who embodies his own middle period theory would admit something he has no good reason to admit.