THE DRONE. 85 
better to save the bees the labor and expense of rear- 
ing such a host of useless consumers. This can readily 
be done, when we have the control of the combs; for, 
by removing the drone-comb, and supplying its place with 
worker-cells, the over-production of drones may be easily 
prevented. Those who object to this, as interfering with 
nature, should remember that the bee is not in a state 
of nature; and that the same objection might, with equal 
force, be urged against killing off the supernumerary males 
of our domestic animals. 
192. Soon after the harvest is over, or if there is a lull 
in the yield of honey, the drones are expelled from the hive. 
The worker-bees sting them, or gnaw the roots of their 
wings, so that when driven from the hive, they cannot re- 
turn. If not ejected in either of these summary ways, they 
are so persecuted and starved, that they soon perish. At 
such times they often retreat from the comb, and keep by 
themselves upon the sides or bottom-board of the hive. 
The hatred of the bees extends even to the unhatched 
young, which are mercilessly pulled from the cells and de- 
stroyed with the rest. 
Healthy colonies almost always destroy the drones, as soon 
as forage becomes scarce. In the vicinity of Philadelphia, 
there were only a few days in June, 1858, when it did not 
rain, and in that month the drones were destroyed in most 
of the hives. When the weather became more propitious, 
others were bred to take their place. In seasons when the 
honey-harvest has been abundant and long protracted, we 
have known the drones to be retained, in Northern Massa- 
chusetts, until the lst of November. If bees could gather 
honey and could swarm the whole year, the drones would 
probably die a natural death. 
How wonderful that instinct which, when there is no longer 
any occasion for their services, impels the bees to destroy 
those members of the colony reared with such devoted 
attention | 
