MASSACRE OF THE DRONES. 103 



It now remains for us to describe their tragical end. 

 When the queen has exhausted her ovarium, and the laying 

 of eggs has ceased for the season, the common bees declare 

 war against the drones, and during three or four days the 

 most cruel massacre continues. Although by their make the 

 drones seem to possess a physical superiority over the bees, 

 yet they appear so conscious of the fate that inevitably 

 attends them, that they offer not the slightest resistance to 

 the attack, but attempt to save themselves, if possible, by 

 flight. Three or four bees attack the drone at the same 

 moment, and leave him not until life be wholly extinct in 

 him. The whole sex must be annihilated, and the bees 

 partake of no rest until it be accomplished. During this 

 period of carnage, the front of the hives is a scene of strife 

 and murder, and the ground before them like the field of 

 battle, strewn with the bodies of the dead. In some hives, 

 this carnage takes place at an early period, about the latter 

 end of June; in others, it is postponed until August; but the 

 exact period depends entirely upon the total evacuation of 

 the ovarium of the queen. 



Huber says that he has seen drones in a hive in January, 

 and Mr. Duncan supposes that they were allowed to remain 

 in the hive on account of the additional heat which they 

 would generate in winter, or perhaps they may be preserved 

 for the purpose of pairing with a new queen. Those sup- 

 positions, however, of Mr. Duncan have not a tittle of truth 

 to stand upon ; not a drone was ever seen in a hive in 

 January ; and as to the generation of heat in the winter, it 

 would rather be a disadvantage than a benefit. The circum- 

 stance of the drones being preserved for the purpose of pair- 

 ing with a new queen is a true Huberian crotchet, and 

 nnworthy of the acquiescence of any one in the least con- 

 versant with the interior economy of a hive. 



The state of agitation and inquietude in which the bees 

 are placed at the time of the massacre of the drones, obstructs 



