278 THE COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS 



A few of the inhabitants, the infertile sexless workers, 

 degenerate females — degenerate so far as the power of 

 reproduction is concerned at any rate — are left behind, 

 and there remain also in their cradles a variable number 

 of unhatched queens, and drones or males. One of these 

 potential queens and the males now speedily emerge, 

 and for a day or two remain within the seclusion of the 

 hive, feeding upon the honey stored in the combs. 



The males are the first to leave, making daily ex- 

 cursions abroad in the search for mates. They display in 

 this a very leisurely behaviour, rising late and not ventur- 

 ing out till the day is well aired. Returning early in the 

 afternoon with sharpened appetites, they feed to repletioo 

 and soon fall asleep. 



In about three days, however, the young queen ventures 

 abroad, timidly at first, to stretch her wings in the 

 sunshine. She is preparing for the great moment of 

 her life, the nuptial flight. So far, though drones may 

 swarm on every side of her, no sign of recognition 

 is given, nor do the males evince any consciousness 

 of her presence. She behaves warily and demurely 

 throughout. Her first excursions abroad are very brief . 

 they are not so much trial flights, apparently, as efforts 

 to locate the exact position of the hive in relation to 

 the outer world. To this end the flights are rapidly 

 extended in ever-widening circles, till at last, with lightning 

 speed, she makes for the blue sky, to return to the gloom 

 of the hive almost immediately after. During all this 

 time the stimulus of sexual desire has been gathering 

 force, and now, being no longer controllable, she darts 

 off, and up into the sky ; almost at once she is recog- 

 nized by the swarms of males from neighbouring hives, 

 some thousands in number, which for days have been 



