BOOK IX. XIV. 20-XV. 4 



also says that the hives which anyone wishes to trans- 

 fer should only be moved at night and without being 

 shaken. 



XV. Presently, when spi-ing is over, as I have said, of the 

 the harvesting of the honey follows, with a view to ^neyf ° 

 which the whole year's work is carried out. We con- 

 clude that the honey is ripe when we notice that the 

 drones are being expelled and put to flight by the 

 bees. They are insects of a larger growth, very like 

 bees, but as Vergil* says " a lazy herd " and idle, 

 sitting near the honey-combs without doing any 

 work ; for they do not collect food but consume that 2 

 which is brought in by others. Nevertheless these 

 drones seem to contribute something to the pro- 

 creation of the younger generation by sitting on the 

 seeds from which the bees are formed, and so they 

 are admitted on terms of some intimacy in order to 

 sit upon the eggs which produce the new offspring; 

 then, when the young bees are hatched, they are 

 hustled out of the hives and, as the same poet says, 

 " they are kept away from the fold." * Some 3 

 people recommend that they should be entirely 

 exterminated; but I agree with Mago that this 

 should not be done, but that a limit ought to be set 

 to cruelty. For the race ought not to be wholly 

 destroyed, lest the bees suffer from idleness, since, 

 when the drones consume part of their provisions, 

 they become more active in repairing their losses ; 

 but, on the other hand, a crowd of robbers ought not 

 to be allowed to form a band, lest they plunder all 

 the wealth of others. Therefore, when you see bees 4 

 and drones frequently quarrelling with one another, 

 you will open and inspect the hives, so that, if the 

 honey-combs are half-full, they may be let alone for 



495 



