PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 381 



eggs. 1 Swammerdam thought that the female was impregnated by effluvia 

 which issued from the male. 2 Reaumur, from some proceedings that he 

 witnessed, was convinced that impregnation took place according to the 

 usual law of nature, and, as he supposed, within the hive. 3 The former 

 part of this opinion Huber has confirmed by indubitable proofs ; but he 

 further discovered that these animals pair abroad, in the air, during the 

 flight of the queen : a fact which renders a large number of males neces* 

 sary, to insure her impregnation in due time to lay eggs that will produce 

 workers. 4 Huber also observed those appearances which induced Debravv 

 to adopt the opinion I mentioned just now, and was at first disposed to 

 think them real; but afterwards, upon a nearer inspection, he discovered 

 that it was an illusion caused by the reflection of the rays of light. 5 



In fine weather the drones, during the warmest part of the day, take 

 their flights, and it is then that they pair with the queen in mid air, the re- 

 sult being invariably the death of the drone. No one has yet discovered, 

 unless the proceedings observed by Debravv and Bonnet may be so inter- 

 preted, that when in the hive they take any share in the business of it, 

 their great employment within doors being to eat. Their life, however, is 

 of very short duration, the eggs that produce drones being laid in the 

 course of April and May, and their destruction being usually accom- 

 plished in the months of July and August. The bees then, as M. Huber 

 observes, chase them about, and pursue them to the bottom of the hives, 

 where they assemble in crowds. At the same time numerous carcasses of 

 drones may be seen on the ground before the hives. Hence he conjec- 

 tured, though he never could detect them engaged in this work upon the 

 combs, that they were stung to death by the workers. To ascertain how 

 their death was occasioned, he caused a table to be glazed, on which he 

 placed six hives ; and under this table he employed the patient and inde- 

 fatigable Burnens, who was to him instead of eyes, to watch their pro- 

 ceedings. On the 4th of July this accurate observer saw the massacre 

 going on in all the hives at the same time, and attended by the same cir- 

 cumstances. The table was crowded with workers, who, apparently in 

 great rage, darted upon the drones as soon as they arrived at the bottom 

 of the hive, seizing them by their antennas, their legs, and their wings, and 

 killing them by violent strokes of their sting, which they generally inserted 

 between the segments of the abdomen. The moment this fearful weapon 

 entered their body, the poor helpless creatures expanded their wings and 

 expired. After this, as if fearful that they were not sufficiently despatched, 

 the bees repeated their strokes, so that they often found it difficult to ex- 

 tricate their sting. On the following day they were equally busy in the 

 work of slaughter; but their fury, their own having perished, was chiefly 

 vented upon those drones which, after having escaped from the neighbour- 

 ing hives, had sought refuge with them. Not content with destroying 

 those that were in the perfect state, they attacked also such male pups as 

 were left in their cells ; and then dragging them forth, sucked the fluid from 

 their bodies and cast them out of the hive. 6 



But though in hives containing a queen perfectly fertile (that is, which 

 lays both worker and male eggs) this is the unhappy fate of the drones 



i Bonnet, x. 259. 2 Bill Nat. i. 221. b. ed. Hill. 



3 Reaum. v. 503 * Huber, i. 24. 



5 Ibid. 37-. 6 i bid . L 195. 



