§() PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



or castrating the supernumerary males of our domestic ani- 

 mals. 



192. Soon after the harvest is over, or if there is a lull 

 in the yield of honey, the drones are expelled from the hive. 

 The worker-bees sting them, or gnaw the roots of their wings, 

 so that when driven from the hive, they cannot return. If 

 not ejected in either of these summaiy ways, they are so per- 

 secuted and starved, that they soon perish. At such times they 

 often retreat from the comb, and keep by themselves upon the 

 sides or bottom-board of the hive. The hatred of the bees 

 extends even to the unhatched young, which are mercilessly 

 pulled from the cells and destroj'ed with the rest. 



Healthy colonies almost always destroy the drones, as soon 

 as forage becomes scarce. In the vicinity of Philadelphia, 

 there were only a few days in June, 1858, when it did not 

 rain, and in that month the drones were destroyed in most 

 of the hives. When the weather became more propitious, 

 others were bred to take their place. In seasons when the 

 honey-hars'est has been abundant and long protracted, we 

 have knoAvn the drones to be retained, in Northern Massa- 

 chusetts, until the 1st of November. If bees could gather 

 honey and could swarm the whole year, the drones would 

 probably die a natural death. 



How wonderful that instinct which, when there is no longer 

 any occasion for their services, impels the bees to destroy 

 those members of the colony reared with such devoted atten- 

 tion ! 



193. It is interesting to notice the actions of the drones 

 when they are excluded from the hive. For a while they 

 eagerly search for a wider entrance, or strive to force their 

 bulky bodies through the narrow gateway. Finding this to 

 be in vain, they solicit honey from the workers, and when 

 lefresh^d, renew their efforts for admission, expressing, all 

 the while, with plaintive notes, their deep sense of such a 

 cruel exclusion. The bee-keeper, however, is deaf to their 

 entreaties; it is better for him that they should stay without, 

 and better for them— if they only knew it— to perish by his 



