20 THE BEE-KEEPER'S MANUAL. 
the numbers are irregular, for a weak stock will often 
have an undue proportion. They possess no sting ; 
are larger, darker, and more hairy than the common 
bees; easily distinguishable by their heavy motion on 
the wing, and by their louder humming or droning. 
There is a strong odour about them. 
After her great spring laying of common eggs 
has far advanced, and as an invariable preliminary 
to the construction of royal cells, the queen proceeds 
to deposit eggs intended for the production of drones 
or males, though often without discontinuing those 
for workers, and in fact filling the cells of the 
one or the other indifferently as she comes upon 
them in her progress. In the first year of her life a 
queen of the ordinary breed usually lays very few 
drone eggs. Italian queens however are said to 
disregard this rule, and the circumstance is alleged 
against them by those unfavourable to the foreign 
variety. The drone eggs are laid in cells larger in 
diameter, and deeper and stronger than the others, 
and usually placed towards the outer extremities of 
the hive. A longer period is necessary for the 
development of a male than a female, and the 
drones pass through their various stages in from 
twenty-four to twenty-six days, being seldom seen 
till about the beginning of May (though occasionally 
earlier), and then only in warm weather, in the 
middle of the day. These are the produce of the 
first-laid eggs; for a second smaller laying of drone 
eggs commonly takes place about two months later, 
though the males are rarely found after August, 
unless under certain contingencies. 
