THE INHABITANTS OF THE HIVE 39 



attacking the drones he may be very sure it means 

 that the honey crop is exhausted. 



Our pity is usually much more excited for the 

 fate of the drone than for that of the busy worker, 

 which dies from overwork at the end of a few weeks ; 

 and this is undoubtedly because the death of the 

 worker seems voluntary, while the drones are mani- 

 festly murdered. Once we witnessed the slaughter 

 of the drones in an observation hive, the entrance of 

 which was too contracted to allow the bodies of the 

 drones to pass. For several days the bloody-minded 

 workers spent their energies in tearing their wretched 

 victims limb from limb, and carrying them out in 

 sections. Below a small crevice at the bottom of the 

 hive we found a row of disjointed legs, wings and 

 antennae from the mutilated drones, while the heads 

 and broken bodies were thrown out of the front of 

 the hive. 



THE WORKERS. (Plate V, VI. VII.) 



It is interesting to note that in the socialistic bee- 

 community the work is carried on by unsexed 

 females. It evidently has not been a part of the 

 true economy of the perfect socialism to unite mother- 

 hood and business life in one individual; therefore, a 

 division of labour takes place. The queen mother 

 is developed into a highly efficient egg-laying ma- 

 chine, while all her worker sisters remain undeveloped 

 sexually, and thus have time and energy to devote 

 themselves to bringing up the young, keeping the 

 house, getting the food, and administering the affairs 



