ORDER VI. VEIN-AVINGED INSECTS. 261 



the air ; but this can hardly be possible, because the queen 

 is constantly occupied in dropping her enormous number 

 of eggs into the cells, and has no time to fly out ; besides 

 she is not able to make flying excursions, because her wings 

 are too short, and her body too heavy. It is, moreover, 

 not a little absurd to suppose that Nature should have 

 placed one female at the disposal of a thousand -males, who, 

 in order to gain her favor, would quarrel and murder one 

 another until the whole colony would be destroyed. We 

 must conclude, then, that her majesty the Queen Bee de- 

 serves to be titled the Virgin Mother and Queen of the Bees. 



But the eggs of the queen, after they have been deposited 

 by her in the cells, are probably fecundated by the drones, 

 in the same manner as the male fishes fructify the spawn. 

 To this opinion is objected the fact that the drones are mas- 

 sacred by the working bees every autumn, and if so, how 

 can eggs laid in the spring be fecundated? We answer, 

 that we have never seen a hive, even in winter, that did not 

 contain drones, and if we had, there is no reason why they 

 could not have fecundated the empty cells previous to their 

 death. At all events, it is conceded that the drones, being 

 the only males, are the only agents connected with the hive 

 that are capable of fructifying the eggs, whatever be the 

 process by which it is done. 



The drones are larger than the working bees and have a 

 rounder head. They are called by the French "Bourdons," 

 because they hum louder than the others, and they are vis- 

 ible only from the beginning of May to the end of July. 

 Their number is about ten or twelve times less than that 

 of the workers, and their chief business, as we have said, 

 is to fecundate the eggs which are deposited in the cells by 

 the queen. 



It was known in ancient times that a large bee with a 

 long body and short wings existed in every hive, and it was 

 called the King of the Bees, and to him was attributed the 



