90 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



or castrating the supernumerai-y males of our domestic ani- 

 mals. 



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-hees stiny them, or gnaw the roots of their wings, 

 so that when driven from the hive, the}' cannot return. If 

 not ejected in either of these summai^y Avays, they are so per- 

 secuted and star\ed, that they soon perish. At such times they 

 (iflen retreat from the comb, and keep bj' themselves upon the 

 sides or boltiaii-board of the hive. The hatred of the bees 

 e.xlends even to the unhatehed young, which are mercilessly 

 pulled fi-nm the cells and destroyed wilh the rest. 



Hi'dltliii colonies almost (dtcai/s destroy the drones, as soon 

 as forage becomes scarce. In the vicinity of Philadelphia, 

 there weie only a few days in June, IS.jSl, 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 1st 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 atten- 

 tion ! 



193. It is interesting to notice the actions of the drones 

 when they are excluded from the hive. For a while they 

 cagerl}' search for a wider entrance, or strive to force their 

 bulky bodies through the naii'ow gateway. Findmg this to 

 ))e in A'ain, they solicit honey from the workers, and when 

 refreshed, renew their efforts for admission, expressing, all 

 the while, with plaintive notes, their deep sense of such a 

 cruel exclusion. The bee-keeper, however, is deaf to their 

 entreaties : it is better for him that they should stay Avithout, 

 and better for them— if they only knew it— to perish by his 



