70 THE FUNCTIONS OF BEES. 



of atmosphere, destroy them in hundreds. In the 

 clear cold mornings and evenings of autumn, their 

 eagerness for foraging entices them ahroad early and 

 late ; when, alighting on the ground, many are chilled, 

 and quickly perish. And should they escape the 

 blighting atmosphere at the close of autumn, a bright 

 sunshine in a winter day, when the ground perhaps is 

 covered with snow, brings them abroad in multitudes, 

 and the half of them never return. From these causes, 

 independent of the numbers which fall a prey to 

 enemies, a swarm which in July amounted to fifteen 

 or twenty thousand, will, by the following February 

 or March, have dwindled to a mere handful. It is 

 otherwise with the Queen ; going seldom abroad, she 

 is little exposed to accidents. Her natural life is 

 prolonged to several years, though the precise extent 

 has not been accurately ascertained. In 1834 we 

 had one in our possession, which we had every rea- 

 son to believe was not less than four years old. 



Functions of the Male or Drone, (see PI. I. Fig. 

 1.) The sole office of the Male, or at least the pri- 

 mary one, is to pair with the Queen. He is the 

 father of the hive. Indolent and luxurious, he takes 

 no part in the internal operations of the domicile, 

 find never leaves it with a view of sharing in the 

 labours of the field. When he does venture abroad, 

 it is only in the finest weather, and during the 

 warmest part of the day, at which time the young 

 Queens are instinctively led to go out in search of the 

 male. He is easily distinguished from the workers 

 by his larger sise,, by his heavy motion in flight, and 



