MASSACRE OF DRONES. 



collect food nor materials, nor do they aid in any way in the con- 

 struction of the dwellings, nor in the care or nurture of the 

 young. In the absence of any better explanation of their vast 

 number it has been said that the purpose is to insure a consort 

 to the queen. But surely this object might be effected without 

 encumbering the society with 2000 candidates for the royal 

 favour. 



It has been suggested by some apiarists that the drones may 

 sit upon the eggs, and by others that their use may be to develope 

 heat sufficient to maintain the hive at the necessary temperature ; 

 but the experiments and observations of other naturalists have set 

 aside these hypotheses. 



146. Whatever be the purpose which this section of the society is 

 destined to fulfil, their treatment by the people, and the manner 

 in which their existence is terminated, are remarkable. 



So long as swarms continue to issue from the hive, drones are 

 wanted to supply the necessary proportion of that class to accom- 

 pany them. But after the swarming season closes, which in these 

 climates it generally does towards the end of July, at least in dry 

 summers, the general massacre of the drones takes place. At that 

 time the bees are seen hunting them in all parts of the hive, and 

 driving them to the base upon which it stands. Soon after this 

 the stand and the ground before the hive are found to be covered 

 with the bodies of hundreds of the murdered drones. It was 

 supposed by Bonnet that no direct massacre was executed, but 

 that the drones driven from the stores of their food died of 

 starvation.* 



147. Huber, however, among his other numerous discoveries, 

 contrived to witness, through the eyes of his faithful Burnens, 

 the actual massacre. 



At the season at which the extermination usually took place, 

 he placed upon plates of glass six populous hives occupied by 

 swarms of the preceding year, and Burnens lying on his back 

 under the hives was enabled to witness all that took place by the 

 transparency of their bases. On the 4th of July, 1787, he wit- 

 nessed the massacre, which took place at the same hour in all the 

 six hives. The base was crowded with bees, who appeared in a 

 state of great excitement. As fast as the drones, hunted by 

 other bees from the superior parts of the combs, arrived at the 

 base, the bees there assembled fell upon them, seizing them by 

 their antennae, legs, or wings, and after dragging them about with 

 apparent rage, put them to death by stabbing them with their 

 stings between the segments of the abdomen. The moment they 

 were thus pierced, they spread their wings and expired. However, 



* Bonnet, "Contemplation de la Nature," chap. xxvi. part. xi. 



75 



