410 



BEE. 



Bee. 



Nature of 

 drones. 



workers and males, spin complete coccoons close at 

 both ends ; the coccoons of queens are imperfect, co- 

 vering only the head, thorax, and first ring of the 

 abdomen. Nor can the larva do otherwise ; the par- 

 ticular form and position of the cell force it to leave 

 the ends of the coccoon open, while in the natural 

 state ; but if removed from it, and situated in the 

 same circumstances as the larva: of males and work- 

 ers, a complete coccoon is fabricated, in which the 

 animal is fully enveloped. But the purpose of the 

 open coccoon is only now to be discovered ; it is, 

 that the inclosed nymph may be exposed, without re- 

 sistance, to the deadly jealousy of its rivals. Were it 

 close, the sting of the queen, which seems never to be 

 used excepting to destroy her own species, might be 

 entangled in the silk, by which she herself might be- 

 come the sacrifice, and occasion the loss of the whole 

 hive. 



Though only a single female can exist in a swarm, 

 several hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of drones 

 inhabit it. They originate towards the summer sea- 

 son, eleven months after the queen has commenced 

 laying those eggs that become workers, that is, 

 when the propagation of the colony takes place. 

 The sole office of the drones, so far as has yet been 

 discovered, is to fecundate the queen ; for we can 

 scarcely admit, as several authors have done, that their 

 heat and custom of crowding on the combs is instru- 

 mental in hatching the young brood. Concerning 

 the structure of the genital organs, which are extreme- 

 ly complicated, we shall refer to the works of Swam- 

 merdam, Reaumur, and Huber, who have expatiated 

 on it at great length. Drones want a sting ; and there 

 is a difference in the conformation of several other 

 parts of the body, as the trunk and antenna;, from 

 those of females and workers. They do not collect 

 honey, but consume it ; and instead of entering the 

 cells, as the females and workers do, for repose, they 

 cluster together on the combs. If the sole office of 

 drones be to fecundate the queen, we' cannot well ac- 

 count for their numbers. Why should thousands 

 dwell in a hive a burden on the community, when one 

 is enough to perpetuate their race, and when only a 

 single impregnation is required ? Naturalists, who 

 have ascribed the fecundation of the queen bee to a 

 certain aura emanating from the males, judged it es- 

 sential that they should be in numbers, that the 

 aura might have sufficient power or intensity. Those 

 observers, again, who have demonstrated, that impreg- 

 nation is operated without the hive, deem it necessary 

 that the drones should be numerous, otherwise the 

 queen would have little chance of meeting any one in 

 her course through the air : and others, even the most 

 acute persons, who allowed themselves to believe, that 

 here the solicitation was on the part of the female, 

 thought that tins redundancy of males was given, in or- 

 der that she might make her choice. These reasons are 

 to us alike unsatisfactory: the first, from its being ut- 

 terly adverse to the laws which regulate the preserva- 

 tion of animals ; the second, from resting on no surer 

 basis than on simple conjecture, still unsanctioned by 

 evidence ; and the third, from being a conclusion on 

 facts which never happen. Nevertheless it is un- 

 questionable, that a hive, deprived of drones, will pro- 



duce no young, though we cannot form an idea of the Bee. 

 precise number necessary for the ends of generation. v *^-v- ' 



After a particular period of the year, when the They are 

 queen has been impregnated, and when the masculine mastered 

 properties of the drones are no longer of any use, they v 

 are mercilessly destroyed by those very workers which Jj 

 once watched so carefully over their origin. This is a 

 fact well known, and has given birth to various hypo- 

 theses. In Britain, as in other countries, the period 

 of the massacre probably depends on the advancement 

 of the season, and always happens during the autumn 

 months. The drones then flying from destruction, 

 are seen on the flowers, occupying the panes of our 

 window -, or wandering about from hive to hive, 

 which they no sooner enter than death awaits them. 

 This incident occurs sooner on the continent, where 

 the seasons are earlier, compared with ours ; and we 

 shall cite the substance of some observations by a 

 Swiss naturalist, by which it is materially illustrated. 

 " It is usually in the months of July and August that 

 the bees free themselves of the males. They are at 

 that time drove away and pursued to the inmost parts 

 of the hive, where they collect in numbers: and as 

 many are then found dead on the ground, it was to be 

 concluded that, after being expelled the hive, they 

 are stung to death by the bees. Yet, on the surface 

 of the comb, the sting is never observed to be used 

 against them ; the bees seem satisfied with pursuing 

 and chasing them away. To ascertain the truth, 

 we thought of getting the support of the hive made 

 of glass, and of placing ourselves below, to discover 

 what passed in the scene of action. A glass ta- 

 ble was therefore constructed, on which six hives con- 

 taining swarms of the same year were put, and lying 

 under it, we endeavoured to see in what manner the 

 drones were destroyed. Our contrivance succeeded 

 to admiration : on the 1th of July, we saw the work- 

 ers actually massacre the males in the whole six 

 swarms, at the same hour, and with the same pecu- 

 liarities. The glass table was covered with bees full 

 of animation, which flew on the drones as they came 

 from the bottom of the hives ; seized them by the an- 

 tennae, the wings, and the limbs ; and, after having 

 dragged them about, or, so to speak, after quartering 

 them, they killed the unfortunate victims by repeat- 

 ed stings, directed between the rings of the belly. 

 The moment that the formidable weapon, with which 

 the workers are armed, touched them, was the last of 

 their existence ; they stretched their wings and expi- 

 red. At the same time, as if the workers did not con- 

 sider them so completely dead as they appeared to us, 

 they struck the sting so deep that it could scarcely be 

 withdrawn. Next day having resumed our position, we 

 witnessed new scenes of carnage : during three hours 

 the bees furiously destroyed their males. On the 

 preceding evening they had massacred all their own ; 

 but now they attacked those which, driven from the 

 neighbouring hives, had taken refugj amongst them. 

 We saw them also tear some remaining nymphs from 

 the combs : they greedily sucked the whole fluid 

 from the abdomen, and then carried them away. The 

 following days no drones remained in the hives. 



The cause of this cruel extirpation of so great a 

 portion of the community, is very far from being evi- 



