216 THE BEE NATION 



eggs, or else make the laying of unfertilised or so-called 

 drones' eggs impossible. The first idea is the more likely, 

 for in case of need drones' eggs are placed in the smaller cells 

 and these develop into drones. They are under these cir- 

 cumstances smaller than usual, but more room is made for 

 them by the workers by the latter not roofing in the cells 

 flat as for the ordinary broods, but giving them a raised 

 roof. Such a brood is called a " humped brood," owing to 

 the humped appearance of the cells. We see clearly here, 

 as by so many other examples, that the bees are able to 

 accommodate themselves to circumstances thoroughly and 

 consecutively. 



This wise calculation of consequences is further exempli- 

 fied in that sometimes the massacre of the drones takes 

 place before the time for swarming, as, for instance, when 

 long-continued unfavorable weather succeeds a favorable 

 beginning of spring, and makes the bees anxious for their 

 own welfare. If, however, the weather breaks and work 

 again becomes possible, so that the bees take courage anew, 

 they then bring up new drones and prepare them in time for 

 the swarming. This killing of drones is distinguished from 

 the regular drone massacre by the fact that the bees then 

 only kill the developed drones, and leave the drone larvae, 

 save when absolute hunger compels their destruction. Not 

 less can it be regarded as a prudent calculation of circum- 

 stances when the bees of a hive, brought from our temperate 

 climate to a more southern country where the time of col- 

 lecting lasts longer, do not kill the drones in Angust, as 

 usual, but at a later period suitable to the new conditions. 



A bee State without drones is a real female State in the 

 fullest sense of the words, for it contains only fertile females 

 andf emales with rudimentary sexual organs. Even the presence 

 of the drones alters this character very little or not at all, for, 

 as will be shown, these only play a very secondary part, and 

 the whole far-reaching intelligence of the bees, as of other 

 social insects, must clearly for the most part be inherited 

 from the mother's side. ^ Amongst men also, according to 

 the assertion of famous writers, remarkable mental gifts 

 have been inherited more from the mother than from the 

 father. In any case the role of the male element in the bee 

 State is so subordinate to the female, that the highest ideal 

 of female desire for emancipation appears here to be realised, 



