PAIRING OF BEES. 253 



with some perseverance in making experiments, be 

 probably ascertained.* 



PAIRING OF BEES. 



Few subjects have been more puzzling to scientific 

 naturalists than the pairing of the hive-bee {^pis 

 meUifica), as it differs in many particulars from what 

 we have just related of ants, and which also is nearly 

 similar to the pairing of wasps and humble-bees ; for, 

 among all these, a considerable number of females as 

 well as males is produced towards the close of autumn. 

 But in a honey-bee's hive only one female can exist 

 at the same time ; for, though several are always 

 hatched, these either migrate successively, in order 

 to establish new colonies, or are destroyed by the 

 rivalry of the reigning queen, most commonly before 

 they quit their cells, while they are of course incapa- 

 ble of defending themselves. The males, on the other 

 hand, which are proverbially known by the name of 

 drones, amount to six or eight hundred ; and, as 

 Kirby and Spence remark, to be born and die seems 

 to be nearly the sum total of their history. Provi- 

 dence, however, has certainly some wise design in 

 the creation of what appears at first sight so super- 

 fll.ous a number ; probably to furnish a supply of 

 */ood to the swallows and carnivorous insects, which, 

 at the time the drones take flight, are eagerly on the 

 hunt for prey, both to satisfy their own wants and the 

 voracious cravings of their young. Be this as it may, 

 the fact of these comparative numbers of the male and 

 female hive-bees is ascertained beyond question. 



As the pairing of these has never been actually 

 observed, many conjectures respecting it have been 

 published. One of the most ingenious appears to 

 have been suggested by Aristotle, and revived by 

 Maraldi, the celebrated inventor of glass-hives, viz. 



* J. R. 



VOL. XII. 22 



