2() Uullciiìì de Ut Sociéli' l'jìtoiììohxjiqiie d'Egijple 



already well known in connection with the olherbreeds, 

 in Older lo poinl onl llu' special peculiarities of the in- 

 sect under discussion. 



Like all other speci(>s of Apis, .4. fascidld lives 

 in communilies consislinj^ of males, lemales and 

 workers; the workers beini^ lemales retarded in their 

 sexual development, and at the same time specialised 

 Tortile puri)Osesorcarryingon the workofthecommuhity. 



It is well known in connection with the life-history 

 of the drones in European breeds, that the communities 

 only tolerate drones at certain seasons of the year, antl 

 that duriui^ the rest of the year the hives contain no 

 drones. In England, bees commence rearing drones at 

 the commencement of the breeding season, and drones 

 are found in the hives from the middle of May to the 

 latter end of .Inly, ore\('n to ihc vnd of August. Then, 

 as the breeding season is over, and the drones are of no 

 more use to the community, the workers exclude the 

 drones from the hive. In conse({uence of exposure, and 

 of not being al)le to ol)tain food in the hive the drones die. 



With the Egyptian bee this is to some extent ditTer- 

 enl. A thriving couiuiunity will be found to contain 

 drones all the year round. During the winter they are 

 certainly rarer than in suminei-, buta few are normally 

 always present. Drone Ijrood is actively being raised in 

 .laiuiary, and to some extent throughout the next live 

 or six months. I have observed the slaughter of drones 

 with Egyptian bees, l)ut it took place in February, at a 

 time when the community was actually rearing drone- 

 brood. The object of the slaughter in this case was not 

 to rid the community of useless mouths, which is consi- 

 dered lo be the,, reason for the same performance in 



