| 326 DIVISION II. ARTICULATED ANIMALS. —CLASS IV. “INSECTA. 
| 
| instant with the greatest precipitation, And so, as soon as the two rivals 
| felt that their posterior parts were about to meet, they let go of each other, 
| and each one ran away in an opposite direction. A few minutes after they 
had separated from each other, their fear ceased, and they recommenced look- 
ing for each other. Very soon they perceived the object of their search, and 
we saw them running one against the other. They seized each other as at the 
first, and put themselves exactly in the same position. The result was the 
same; as soon as their abdomens approached each other, they only thought 
of getting free, and ran away. 
“The working bees were very much agitated during the whole of this 
time, and their tumult scemed to increase when the adversaries separated 
from each other. We saw them on two different occasions stop the queens 
in their flight, seize them by the legs, and keep them prisoners for more 
| than aminute. At last, ina third attack, the queen which was the most 
infuriated, or the strongest, rushed upon her rival at a moment when she 
did not see her coming, seized her with her jaws by the base of her wing, 
| then mounted on to her body, and brought the extremity of her abdomen 
over the last rings of her enemy, whom she was then able to pierce with 
| her sting very easily. .She then let go the wing which she held between 
| her teeth, and drew back her dart. The vanquished queen dragged herself 
heavily along, lost her strength, and expired soon afterwards.” 
Execution or THE Drones. —The drones (that is to say, the males) 
are now no longer wanted in the colony; their mission is over. By an 
inexorable law of nature, they must be got rid of, and the working bees 
proceed to make a general massacre of them. It is in the months of July 
and August that this frightful carnage takes place. The workers may then 
be scen furiously giving chase to the males, and pursuing them to the 
| extremity of the hive, where these unfortunate insects seek a place of safety. 
Three or four workers dash off in the pursuit of the male. They seize hold 
of him, pull him by his legs, by his wings, by his antenna, and kill him 
with their stings. This pitiless massacre includes even the larva and pupx 
of the males. The executioners drag them from their cells, run them through 
with their stings, greedily suck the liquids contained in their bodies, and 
then cast their remains to the winds. 
This slaughter goes on for many days, continuing till the males have been 
| completely got rid- of, they not being able to defend themselves, as they 
have no stings. 
| Tur Brrs reason. — Francis Huber relates that he saw bees propping 
up with pillars and flying buttresses of wax a piece of the honey-comb which 
had fallen down. At the same time, put on their guard by this sad acci- 
dent, they set to work to fortify the principal framework of the other combs, 
