12 PERSONALITY OF THE HONEY-BEE 



All this ignorance has been cleared away, at 

 least so far as the practical beekeeper is concerned, 

 for there can no longer be the smallest doubt that 

 the drones are males, and that their sole purpose 

 in life is the propagation of the species. It may, 

 perhaps, seem strange that there should ever have 

 been any doubt about the matter at all ; but the 

 truth is that the love-making of bees is carried on 

 quite differently to that of other creatures. Only 

 those who have watched patiently and regularly 

 have ever been able to observe even the prelimi- 

 naries of it, and the actual accomplishment has 

 seldom been witnessed. We may reserve till a 

 later chapter the fascinating details of the bee's 

 amours. 



There are in each hive about two or three 

 hundred drones during the summer months. 

 They are readily known from the workers by their 

 greater size, they being much more stoutly built 

 as well as longer than the workers. The 

 compound eyes are very much larger, meeting 

 on the top of the head, and the antennae have an 

 extra joint, so that they are somewhat longer 

 than those of workers. They are strong on the 

 wing, but fly differently from workers, their deep 

 booming note and very ostentatious and blustering 

 manner making some amends to them for their 

 real impotence, for they are quite destitute of 

 stings. 



The drone is, when it comes to the push, the 



