66 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



part of it in the queen ; this can only be removed 

 when it has shrivelled up, and then, in some 

 cases, only by the aid of the workers. The 

 fertilised queen returns to the hive, having in 

 her spermatheca no less than 200,000,000 sper- 

 matozoa, a supply equal to even her prodigious 

 fecundity. 



Once the queen is fertilised and has begun her 

 ceaseless egg-laying the drones are more use- 

 less than ever. They have always been a nuisance 

 in the hive, devouring the best honey, hustling 

 the workers, impeding the work and fouling 

 the combs ; for, unlike the workers who can 

 only rid themselves of undigested food when 

 on the wing, the drones and the queen deposit 

 their excreta in the hive for the workers to clear 

 away. Useless, and a great drain on the hive, 

 they are yet suffered to survive a little while, 

 but in a few days that curious socialistic instinct 

 that persistently impels the honey-bee to sacri- 

 fice the individual for the sake of the community 

 " 1' esprit de la ruche " as Maeterlinck calls 

 it is awakened, and the workers unite to destroy 

 the drones, either by driving them forth, or by 

 forcing them into an empty comb and starving 

 them to death, or by savagely attacking them 



