230 THE HONEY-BEE. 



community. As to the drones, we can give credit to 

 one only — the royal spouse — for any share in this 

 emotion, and, indeed, we should be inclined to place 

 the one exception in a different category. 



As to affection for all belonging to one community, 

 the facts are very conflicting. In the first place, 

 drones appear to have the entree of any stock. We 

 can see that the obvious benefit of cross-breeding is 

 thus more likely to be secured ; but it is impossible to 

 imagine this advantage to influence the bees. Again, 

 the manifest hostility shown by one colony of 

 workers to individuals from any other, is doubtless 

 the result of the fear of stores being robbed ; while 

 drones are allowed free passage, because they do not 

 transfer honey from one hive to another, and take no 

 more than suffices for their personal needs. But, 

 while there is no doubt of exclusiveness being shown 

 by the workers towards other workers, we have little 

 evidence of any actual affection existing among the 

 members of the same community. It is true that 

 the crushing of one bee enrages others who become 

 aware of the circumstance, but the anger is probably 

 the result of fear of further destruction, rather than 

 grief at the loss of a friend. The death of individuals 

 in the ordinary course of nature, does not seem to 

 excite any emotion beyond the desire to get rid of 

 the body, which is unceremoniously taken in the 

 jaws, aided by the legs, of some enterprising survivor, 

 carried to a distance from the hive, and then let fall. 

 Bees never attempt to extricate co-workers from im- 

 prisonment in spider-webs, or from any other difficulty 

 into which they have fallen. 



We must, however, acknowledge that an intense 



