SOME STRANGE MARRIAGE-CUSTOMS 289 



the tibia, which is trough-shaped, forming the " corbi- 

 culum,'* or pollen-basket. The next, or middle, pair of 

 legs are then employed to ram the pollen well into the 

 basket, for safe conveyance to the hive. On arrival at 

 the combs, the bee pushes its hind-legs into a cell, or 

 " pollen-tub," and with a special spur dislodges the pellet 

 of pollen and lets it fall into the tub. These are complex 

 movements, performed without instruction and, we must 

 suppose, without any intelligent conception of their 

 purpose. 



The drone is larger than either queen or worker, and 

 has enormous eyes, which meet one another over the top 

 of the head ; he has no wax-secreting organs, no pollen- 

 basket, no sting. His antennas are longer, his hum is 

 deeper, his sole function is to fertilize a queen, and this 

 done, he promptly dies. Failing in his first flight, he 

 may make yet other ventures, but the chances are that 

 he will die without attaining the only purpose for which 

 he exists. 



The fact that he lives for some days in the hive with 

 the queen, before her nuptial flight, apparently unaware 

 of her presence, would seem to indicate some special 

 " trigger " for the release of the sexual instincts. But 

 it must be remembered that he does not attain to maturity 

 until after his first flight, and this it is, probably, which 

 arouses the mate-hunger. More than this, however, it 

 is probable that coitus is possible only when on the wing, 

 when the air-sacs become inflated, and exert pressure 

 on the genital organs. How he recognizes the queen 

 when on her wild flight heavenwards is unknown : 

 possibly by scent, but more probably by the very different 

 vibrative note of her wings, that of the male being much 

 stronger and deeper. His continued return to the hive 



19 



