The Colony and its Organization 45 



large that they meet on top of the head, forcing the ocelli 

 (simple eyes, O, Fig. 69) down on the front nearer the bases 

 of the antennae. The legs (Fig. 81) have no pollen baskets. 

 The wax glands are missing, and there is no sting (this 

 being a strictly female organ, a modified ovipositor). 

 There is one more segment visible in the abdomen than 

 in the female and the abdomen is larger and blunt at 

 the end. A row of prominent hairs is present on the dorsal 

 side of the abdomen. 



In the early spring when brood-rearing begins, the first 

 eggs laid by the queen ordinarily develop into workers and, 

 as the colony becomes more populous and the weather mod- 

 erates, drones rapidly appear. They may be fairly abun- 

 dant, if the beekeeper does not reduce their number, up to 

 the close of the honey-flow, but at that time the workers 

 drive them from the colony. The first indication of this 

 exodus is to see them in numbers on the bottom board and 

 soon workers will be seen leaving the entrance carrying the 

 heavy drones, with the base of a wing grasped by the man- 

 dibles. They are dropped a hundred feet or more from the 

 hive and usually fail to return. If they do return the pro- 

 cess is repeated. 1 There is reason to believe that the drones 

 are first starved and then carried out when they become 

 weak. They are rarely stung to death. This slaughter of 

 the drones is best seen in localities where the honey-flow 

 stops abruptly. In queenless colonies, drones are not re- 

 moved and cases are reported of such colonies retaining 

 them until well into winter. Drones usually do not fly until 

 over a week old but they are probably functionally developed 

 earlier, for the spermatozoa are developed in the pupa. 



The drones are seemingly not so fundamentally members 

 of a single colony as are females. They may be placed in 

 any colony without being molested and appear to enter 

 anywhere without challenge until the time of the slaughter. 



1 It is not so usually recognized that old workers are sometimes treated 

 in the same manner. 



