104 APPENDIX. 



BBONES 



Are larger -than the queen or working bee : their head is 

 more round, eyes more full. They have no sting. They 

 make more noise in flying than the other bees. They are 

 the males of the hive. How or when the intercourse 

 between the drone and the queen takes place has long been 

 a matter of speculation and controversy among philosophers ; 

 but the most approved authors agree that it takes place in 

 the air. During the summer they are dispersed through the 

 different parts of the hive, for what purpose is not known. 

 They may perform some offices there, but it is probable that 

 their only purpose is the impregnation of the queen during 

 her aerial flight. 



Towards the close of the season they assemble in groups, 

 and are soon attacked by the working bees and killed. They 

 resist the attacks of their executioners to the utmost of 

 their power, but by the great number of their assailants and 

 their advantages in regard to weapons, they are soon de- 

 spatched : a few are sometimes left in the case of the loss of 

 a queen, or if the queen is not in a healthy condition, for the 

 purpose of the impregnation of a young sovereign if the old 

 one dies. When a colony is in a healthy condition, drones 

 are never found after the general massacre. 



Thus we find the several classes of bees possessed of 

 many physical and instinctive peculiarities, most admirably 

 adapted to their purposes ; teaching us that in the minutest 



