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him from any share in the work of the hive. So far as had^ been 

 ascertained its sole use was to impregnate the young queens, and to 

 accomplish this end, Nature had been lavish in the production of drones, 

 about I GOO being produced in each hive during a summer, although, as 

 seldoui more than two swarms departed, but three drones were required 

 for that purpose. The large eyes of the drone no doubt assisted him in 

 finding the queen during her nuptial flight, while the greater sweep of the 

 hinder wings enabled him to rise above her. The large number of 

 drones was no doubt required by the circumstance of fertilization taking 

 place high up in the air, and by the great importance of a speedy 

 return of the queen to the hive, as in the air she was in great fear of 

 being snapped up by birds, and thus in some cases the entire hive 

 must perish. The fact of the drones not adding to but diminishing 

 the honey had induced bee keepers as long ago as Aristotle to use 

 traps for their exclusion and destruction. The working bees, however, 

 in the latter end of July, suddenly made up their minds to stop the 

 consumption of honey by driving out the drones and preventing their 

 return, so that they perished from want. At the same time, the workers 

 dragged out and stung to death all drone grubs, being apparently filled 

 with the utmost fury. During a wet summer, when honey could not 

 be obtained, the drones were driven out earlier. The queen bee was 

 the mother of the hive, and was easily distinguished from the other 

 bees by her size, being much longer and the abdomen being much more 

 spindle-shaped. Her chief function was to lay eggs ; and this she did 

 both day and night. The manner in which the eggs were fertilized 

 was a great mystery, until Dzierzon showed -that there was communica- 

 ting with the oviduct, through which the eggs passed, a spermatic 

 reservoir. The fertilization of the queen took place on the wing, and 

 it appeared probable that it only took place once in life. Two or 

 three days after impregnation she began to lay ; and if not permitted 

 to leave the hive she lay all the same, though she only produced 

 drones. This had been proved by Siebold who kept some virgin 

 queens caged and found they produced drones only. From observa- 

 tions and experiments it seemed probable that the queen only laid two 

 kinds of eggs, viz. : worker and drone, the former being capable by 

 appropriate feeding and management of being developed into queens. 

 The queen only laid eggs, leaving the workers to look after them and 

 attend to the young. The other peculiarities of the queen were the 

 want of a honey bag, the inability to secret wax, the convex thigh 



