64 miner's AMERICAN 



of the conflict, and as soon as day dawns, they are again 

 driven out to wander about frona hive to hive. In cases 

 of artificial swarms being made, in which the queen is 

 not developed, the bees in such hives give the drones a 

 welcome reception ; for the reason that they are abso- 

 lutely necessary to their prosperity. I had a number of 

 swarms of this kind this season, when the persecution 

 of the drones took place, and on raising the hives in the 

 evening, several hundred drones were found on the bot- 

 tom-board, as before stated ; and it is not unfrequent, 

 that the drones perish from hunger while in this situa- 

 tion. I found two hundred drones dead one morning, 

 in one of my hives, in which an artificial swarm had 

 been placed, all lying precisely as they were the previous 

 evening, with their heads towards the centre. In other 

 hives I found many dead drones in the same manner, on 

 different occasions. It is very singular, that every drone 

 in this hive should perish at the same time, but such is 

 the fact ; yet not a hair of their bodies had been dis- 

 turbed by the workers. When I saw this circumstance 

 at first, I was led to believe that some unnatural agency 

 had caused their death ; but subsequently finding them 

 dead in the same way in several hives, I attributed the 

 cause to starvation. It was natural to suppose, that this 

 was the cause, since the unremitting warfare made on 

 them generally, gave them no opportunity to partake of 

 any food; for no sooner did one enter a hive, than he 

 was instantly ejected ; and the hives in which I found 

 them dead, had not a drop of surplus honey, owing to 

 the unfavorable weather at, and before the period of 



