SOME STRANGE MARRIAGE-CUSTOxMS 277 



have become entirely suppressed, but in every other case 

 the periodical advent of males is an absolute essential 

 for the continuation of the race. Perhaps the least 

 degenerate of these types are the Bees, wherein we meet 

 with well-developed, highly-organized males and females, 

 which, in their sexual relationships, are perfectly normal. 

 But in the fulfilment of the mating instincts in these 

 insects, a most amazing sequence of events is revealed 

 such as are without parallel in the rest of the Animal 

 Kingdom. The story has been charmingly told already 

 by Maeterlinck, in his delightful " Life of the Bee," and 

 it has been told again by Tickner Edwardes, with less of 

 poetry, perhaps, but still fascinatingly : and it must be 

 told again now, but in a condensed fashion. 



Briefly, a community of hive-bees harbours both male 

 and female individuals only for a very short space. 

 During the greater part of the year it consists only of a 

 vast concourse of infertile females, the daughters of one 

 mother ; the " queen " of the hive. The males of that 

 hive are the brothers, not the fathers, of the workers, as 

 some have supposed, and their sojourn there is brief. To 

 gain a clear idea of the facts in regard to the life-history of 

 these insects it is necessary to trace some of the incidents 

 which lead up to the manner in which the population of 

 the hive is regulated, and its continuance ensured. These 

 may well begin with the time when the number of the 

 inhabitants consonant with the well-being of the hive 

 has reached its limit. This occurs during the early part 

 of June, when the queen leaves the hive, accompanied 

 by several thousands of her daughters ; they settle at some 

 distance from their late abode in a " swarm " for the pur- 

 pose of founding a new colony. Here we may leave them. 

 The house just vacated is, however, not entirely deserted. 



