The Massacre of the Males 
their journey, the workers will clear the 
threshold, strewn with the corpses of the 
useless giants; and all recollections of 
the idle race disappear till the following 
spring. 
98 
In very many colonies of the apiary this 
massacre will often take place on the same 
day. The richest, best-governed hive will 
give the signal, to be followed, some days 
after, by the little and less prosperous re- 
publics. Only the poorest, weakest colonies 
—those whose mother is very old and almost 
sterile—will preserve their males till the 
approach of winter, so as not to abandon 
the hope of procuring the impregnation of 
the virgin queen they await, and who may 
yet be born. Inevitable misery follows; and 
all the tribe—mother, parasites, workers— 
collect in a hungry and closely intertwined 
group, who perish in silence before the 
first snows arrive, in the obscurity of the 
hive. 
In the wealthy and populous cities work 
289 T 
