36 HOW TO KEEP BEES 



He is always a clumsy chap, as awkward as his 

 queen is graceful; but he can scramble out of the 

 way with astonishing celerity when a murderously 

 inclined sister attacks him. The time when he shows 

 his princely qualities is when he is flying, for his 

 wings are large and strong and carry nmi easily 

 several miles if he needs to travel so far to win his 

 lady. In his physical makeup he is a fine example 

 of a purely feminine product; for the drone is a very 

 perfect creature, even if he is reared from an unim- 

 pregnated egg. His magnificent compound eyes 

 almost completely encircle his head, nearly meeting 

 at the top, and thus crowding his simple eyes down 

 into his "forehead." And such eyes as these mean 

 something surely, for they are developed that he 

 may be better able to see his heart's desire from afar. 

 He also has marvellous antennae, the nine distal 

 joints of which are completely pitted with smelling 

 organs. The reason for this is that his queen has a 

 fragrance all her own, sweeter to him than the attar 

 of roses, and thus he is equipped, as Cheshire has 

 proven, with thirty-seven thousand eight hundred 

 nostrils, in order to detect the perfume of her royal 

 person at a distance. (Plate VII, G.) 



The life-history of the drone after he hatches from 

 his unfertilised egg is much like that of other bees, 

 except that for him is provided a cell larger than that 

 of the worker; he hatches from the egg about three 

 days after it is laid, and during the week following he 

 is carefully attended by the nurses who feed him on 

 the rich chyle food at first; after four days they give 



