132 The Honey-Makers 



not so long in the abdomen. His wings are large and 

 powerful, though he does not use them often. 



He has a large round head with particularly fine eyes, 



his great compound orbs covering the sides of his head 



and meeting on top, thus crowding the three 



simple eyes out of their places to a lower 



position between the compound eyes. Each 



eye contains the enormous number of more 



than thirteen thousand facets, the worker having 



only half that many. 



The Drone. jjg jjg^g thirteen joints to his antennae instead 



of twelve, and these remarkable organs each contain nearly 



thirty-eight thousand smell-hollows. 



Thus magnificently equipped with sense organs, he forms 

 a striking contrast to his mother, the queen. 



He is a handsome creature with his sheeny wings droop- 

 ing about his bright form, making what Butler calls his 

 " side gown." His back is covered by a soft golden-brown 

 down as though he were clad in a jacket of fine velvet, and 

 his legs are long, strong, and beautiful. He is less hairy 

 than his sisters, the workers, though the end of his abdomen 

 is fringed with rows of bright brown hairs. He is also 

 less intelligent, for although his head is large, his brain is 

 small. 



On the whole, with his big eyes, velvety body, and gos- 

 samer wings, he is as pretty a bee as any in the hive, when 

 regarded without prejudice, and he is certainly pleasanter 

 to handle, as he never under any circumstances stings, one 

 of his masculine peculiarities being the total absence of a 

 sting. 



If teased, he will sometimes go through all the motions 

 of stinging, perhaps as an inherited remembrance of his 

 mother's original power in that direction. And he will 

 also threaten with his tiny jaws, showing plenty of mascu- 



