54 miner's AMERICAN- 



DRONES GO FORTH TO MEET THE aUEEN. 



The drones have received a command from the mouth of 

 Him who created them, to " go forth to meet their royal 

 mistress;" and for five thousand years, this mandate has 

 been implicitly complied with. Time may roll on, yet 

 these drones, faithful to the Omnipotent hand that gave 

 them instinct, will continue to take their serial flights, 

 as regularly as the sun rises and sets. 



Perhaps the reader may not have been impressed with 

 the circumstance of the drones, at a certain hour of 

 the day, coming forth from their hives, and taking their 

 flight heavenward ! This is a singular truth. Gene- 

 rally from one to three o'clock, P. M., on every fair day, 

 a loud buzzing noise may be heard among the bees. A 

 great commotion ensues, and one is often mistaken, sup- 

 posing that a swarm is about to issue. This is the gen- 

 eral egress of the drones. They ascend in horizontal 

 circles, in an oblique direction ; and after being absent 

 an hour or more, return to their hives. This flight 

 takes place daily ; and since the drones have no possible 

 cause for leaving the apiary, to gather food, does not 

 their periodical flights, in this manner, show conclusively, 

 that nature has bidden them to go forth to meet the 

 queen ? Now mark the harmony of the arrangement! 

 The queens, by the same power of instinct, leave their 

 hives about the same time that the drones take their 

 exit ; or generally, a short period before, and seldom re- 

 turn unimpregnated. 



Ruber says, that at eleven o'clock, A. M., he witness- 



