106 METHOD OF KILLING THE DRONES. 



We think it will be allowed that the argumentative part 

 of this passage goes to prove, that the bee in piercing the 

 drone with its sting does not leave it in the wound, owing 

 to the thinness of the cuticle of the drone. This is very 

 plausible, and to the unexperienced apiarian it might appear 

 as decidedly convincing ; but suppose we penetrate a little 

 deeper into the opinion and observations of the Abbe, and 

 we shall find that he says, " I have often seen the bees at 

 war with the drones, and the former on being anxious to 

 disengage themselves, found themselves attached to the latter 

 by their sting, that they succeeded in retracting their sting, 

 without dragging away their entrails, which is a convincing 

 proof that the bees wound each other with the sting, without 

 any mortal consequences." 



We must however acknowledge, that it is not to us a con- 

 vincing proof ; for we confess that we are directly opposed 

 to the principle, that the bees make use of their sting at all in 

 their wars with each other, or in the expulsion of the drones. 

 Any person may convince himself of the validity of our 

 opinion by taking a bee from one hive, and attempt to intro- 

 duce it into another, and he will immediately perceive that 

 the bees attack the intruder, by seizing him at the root of 

 the wings, and he will be killed in less than a minute. By 

 a slight examination, the manner of its death will be easily 

 ascertained. 



Huber is one of the advocates for the massacre of the, 

 drones being effected by the sting of the common bee, but 

 as is generally the case, he contradicts himself, as we shall 

 be able to show, in the grossest manner. It is, however, 

 rather singular that Huber himself, although we suppose 

 neither intentionally nor knowingly, has actually described 

 the manner in which the bees destroy the drones, nevertheless 

 he afterwards accompanies that description with the oft 

 repeated story of the death being occasioned by the sting. 

 He says, in his wonderful description of the duels of the 



