THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



153 



Indeetl, this veneration goes so 

 far tliat they lick the place and 

 path on the glass or upon the combs 

 over which the queen has travelled. 

 On the other hand, the queen proves 

 very loving towards her subjects, 

 with whom she in passing often 

 stops, unites her tongue with theirs, 

 and altogether conducts herself so 

 lovingly towards them that one 

 must acknowledge it to be very 

 Avonderful even though he does not 

 witness it himself, and this inter- 

 esting fact furnishes to the inquir- 

 ing mind of the student of Nature 

 and lover of their Creator great 

 pleasure. 



THE ORGANIC STRUCTURE OF THE 

 DRONES. 



Another kind of bees, not to be 

 found at all times of the year 

 within tlie colony, are the drones, 

 or humble bees, or, as they are 

 called by some, brood^ bees, be- 

 cause it was believed formerly that 

 they had the care of the brood, but 

 this is not so. 



The head and thorax of the 

 drones are much larger and stronger 

 than those of the queen, and the 

 abdomen of the latter is quite dif- 

 ferent in form from that of the 

 drone which is more full and not 

 nearly so long and pointed. Tiiey 

 have a much rounder head than the 

 other bees Und no projecting teeth, 

 as such, but the}' are short, flat and 

 concealed, thus being distinctl}' de- 

 fined from the teeth of the worker 

 bees and of the queen. Their pro- 

 boscis is also much shorter and 



1 Jacobi. a German author, in 1784, speaks 

 of them as " hatching fathers," because they 

 were always to be found in the vicinity ot the 

 combs filled with brood. — Ed.] 



finer, and their eyes are larger and 

 much thicker. They cover the 

 whole upper part of the head, form- 

 ing a projection on either side. 

 The three little eyes (ocellen) which 

 stand out from the crown of the 

 head are quite surrounded with 

 brownish-red hairs. The antennae 

 are glossy black, quite smooth and 

 without hairs, with a short basal 

 joint whereupon are ten articula- 

 tions. These are distinguished also 

 upon the antennae of the worker bee 

 and the queens, which in the latter 

 have a long basal joint that forms 

 an elbow, whereon are to be found 

 nine joints. 



From under the jaws protrude 

 two tufts of hairs Avhich form two 

 beards. On the fourth ring of the 

 abdomen are long, abundant hairs, 

 but the fifth and six rings are 

 curved, slide under the others like 

 the parts of the telescope, and form 

 the blunt body. They have no sting 

 and Nature that has done nothing 

 in vain has created them defenceless, 

 whereby at the time of the drone- 

 battle when they are no longer use- 

 ful in the colony, they may without 

 loss be driven out by the worker 

 bees and destroyed. 



RELATION OF THE DRONES TO THE 



QUEENS. 



The drones are held as husbands 

 to the queens and make the eggs of 

 the bee mother fruitful. I have 

 never yet indeed had the good for- 

 tune to witness their copulation, 

 but it has remained for other nat- 

 uralists, especially von Reaumiir 

 and Mr. Reim to be eyewitnesses 

 thereof, as w'ell within as outside 

 the hives, but the last but seldom 



