HYMENOPTERA, 343 



hives convinced himself that the same animosity impels the 

 females which are pregnant to fight with and destroy each other. 

 From the moment when the young queen to whom the sove- 

 reignty has fallen is pregnant, she is anxious to destroy all the 

 royal pupae which still exist in the hive, and which are then 

 given up to her without resistance by the workers. 



OUK ayaOov TroXvKOipavir) ets KOipavos eorw, 

 Els feo-iAev's. . . . * 



Become a mother, the female attacks one after the other the 

 cells which still contain females. She may be seen to throw her- 

 self with fury on the first cell she comes to. She makes an open- 

 ing in it with her mandibles large enough to allow her to introduce 

 her abdomen, and then turns herself about till she has succeeded 

 in giving a stab with her sting to the female which it contains. 

 She then withdraws, highly satisfied with what she has done. The 

 working bees, who up to this moment have remained indifferent 

 spectators of her efforts, take upon themselves the rest of the busi- 

 ness. They set to work to enlarge the hole made by the ruling 

 queen, and to draw out the carcass of the victim. 



In the meanwhile^ the fierce and jealous sovereign throws her- 

 self on another cell, and breaks into it with violence. If she does 

 not find in it a perfect insect, but only a pupa, she does not con- 

 descend to make use of her royal weapon. The workers take on 

 themselves to empty the cell and destroy its contents. These 

 executions over, the queen can for the future occupy herself in 

 laying, without having anything to fear from rivals. Let us 

 remark, in passing, that man is not much behind these insects, 

 whose savage exploits in cruelty we have just related. Among 

 certain tribes of Ethiopians the first care of the newly-crowned 

 chief is to put in prison all his brothers, so as to prevent wars by 

 pretenders to the throne. Delivered from all dread of rivals, our 

 queen sets to work with an indefatigable zeal, and the workers, 

 animated by the hope of a numerous progeny, heap up provisions 

 around them, 



But now a new tragedy is about to be enacted. The drones, 

 that is to say, the males, are now no longer wanted in the colony : 



* " Many ruling together is not good: let there be one ruler, one king." 

 Homer s ''Iliad.'" ii. 110. 



