SELECTION AMONGST DRONES 197 



inedible fish the male is striped and spotted with 

 blue on a yellow ground, whilst the female is of a 

 mottled, sandy colour. The male's livery, however, is 

 made far more conspicuous by the erection of a large, 

 brightly coloured dorsal fin, and by the rapid move- 

 ments that display this attire from every point of 

 view. There is no actual battle, but the hen lish 

 delays her choice of mate until the display has been 

 repeated many times. 



Amongst insects the powers of the drones are 

 severely tested before their suit is accepted. Types 

 as they are of luxurious living, they act at least once 

 with a strenuousness and passion that no other animal 

 surpasses. Before the queen bee accepts her mate 

 he is but one of a crowd, compelled to make a flight 

 with her and a swarm of attendant workers far up 

 into the sky, and in that ascent one, and one alone, is 

 victorious. What tests he has stood that others failed 

 in we know not ; we do know that success means 

 death to him and the massacre of the remaining 

 drones by the workers. 



A similar mystery envelops the habits of ants. 

 In their nests few drones are found, and only for a 

 short season. Some warm day in August the entire 

 country is filled with the nuptial swarms that, acting 

 under some influence to which they concertedly 

 respond, rise up in streams from the ground and drift 

 over the countryside, descending on mountains and 

 down chimneys, on house roofs and rivers. On that 

 day the drones pass or fail in their ordeal, and, having 



