THE DKOXE. 



85 



organ torn from the drone, and still adhering- to her body. If 

 it were not for this arrangement, her spennatheca could not 

 be filled, unless she remained so long in the air with the drone, 

 as to incur a veiy great risk of being devoured by birds. In 

 one instance, seme days after the impregnation of a queen, we 

 found the male organ, in a dried state, adhering so firmly to 

 her body, that it could not be removed without teanng her to 

 pieces. 



Fig. 37. 

 HEAD OF DROXE. 



(Magnified. After Barbo.) 



181). The number of drones in a hive is often veiy great, 

 amounting not merely to hundi-eds, but sometimes to thousands. 

 As a single one will impregnate a queen for life, it would 

 seem that only a few should be reared. But as sexual inter- 

 course always takes place high up in the air, the young queens 



