Life History and Structure of the Bee. 17 



and are defenceless. The writer has often watched 

 drones being turned out. A wet day is generally 

 selected for the sport. Some of the drones have 

 their wings bitten off, and are then rolled out ; others 

 are stung by the workers, and die in agony. Those 

 that are wounded and rolled out, crawl in again, only 

 to meet with more merciless treatment. As far as 

 the bee-keeper is concerned, he may rest assured that 

 when drones are turned out, the queen bee is all 

 right. If drones are permitted to live all the winter 

 it is a sure proof that the hive is queenless. It might 

 be asked why so many drones are born if so few are 

 required ? The answer is, the whole existence of the 

 bees depends on the fertilization of the queen, and 

 she had better be accompanied by a thousand drones 

 in her flight than fail to meet one. There may be 

 some other useful purpose in their creation, and it 

 has been thought by some that they help to keep up 

 the warmth of the hive while wax is being made. 

 The great characteristic of the drone in all ages has 

 been his laziness. He will not work, and would die 

 of want rather than do any. His character is the 

 opposite to the worker, which works itself to death 

 even as the nightingale is said to sing itself to death. 

 There are many different kinds of bees. The 

 principal bees introduced into England are the Italian 

 bees, Cyprian and Syrian bees, and the Carniolan 

 bees. Speaking generally, it is supposed that our 

 English bees have been improved by the introduction 



