64 THE DURATION OF LIFE. [I. 



this is the explanation which I have suggested and have at- 

 tempted to work out in the text. 



Note 9. Death by Sudden Shock. 



The most remarkable example of this kind of death known 

 to me, is that of the male bees. It has been long known that 

 the drone perishes while pairing, and it was usually believed 

 that the queen bites it to death. Later observations have how- 

 ever shown that this is not the case, but that the male suddenl}^ 

 dies during copulation, and that the queen afterwards bites 

 through the male intromittent organ, in order to free herself 

 from the dead body. In this case death is obviously due to 

 sudden excitement, for when the latter is artificially induced, 

 death immediately follows. Von Berlepsch made some very 

 interesting observations on this point : ' If one catches a drone 

 by the wings, during the nuptial flight, and holds it free in the 

 air without touching any other part, the penis is protruded and 

 the animal instantly dies, becoming motionless as though killed 

 by a shock. The same thing happens if one gently stimulates 

 the dorsal surface of the drone on a similar occasion. The 

 male is in such an excited and irritable condition that the 

 slightest muscular movement or disturbance causes the penis 

 to be protruded \' In this case death is caused by the so-called 

 nervous shock. The humble-bees are not similarly constituted, 

 for the male does not die after fertilizing the female, 'but 

 withdraws its penis and flies away.' But the death of male 

 bees, during pairing, must not be regarded as normal death. 

 Experiment has shown that these insects can live for more 

 than four months ^ They do not, as a matter of fact, generally 

 live so long ; for — although the workers do not, as was formerly 

 believed, kill them after the fertilization of the queen, by direct 

 means — they prevent them from eating the honey and drive 

 them from the hive, so that they die of hunger ^ 



We must also look upon death which immediately, or very 

 quickly, follows upon the deposition of eggs as death by sudden 

 shock. The females of certain species of Psychidae, when they 



^ von Berlepsch, '■ Die Biene und ihre Zucht,' etc, 

 ^ Oken, ' Isis,' 1844, p. 506. 

 ^ von Berlepsch, 1. c, p. 165. 



