112 CONSEQUENCE OF THE BEE STINGING THE DRONE. 



instinct of the bee, supposing it to be so established, that it 

 does in reality make use of its sting in the occasion of the 

 massacre of the drones, the position must be granted to us, 

 that, in strict conformity with its nature, the bee cannot 

 withdraw its sting, and that no exception can be allowed, 

 whether the object that is stung be a human being or one of 

 its own species. In every case which is on record, in which 

 the bee stings its fellow, the sting was always left in the 

 object that is stung, for which we have quoted two autho- 

 rities, Hunter and Puddecombe ; now were this to be the 

 case in the massacre of the drones, the entire depopulation 

 of the hive would be the consequence. The bees appear to 

 be well aware, that the drones, from their superior strength 

 and weight, are an overmatch for them, and therefore they 

 fall upon the expedient of reducing that strength by hunger. 

 A single bee cannot cope with a drone, for although the 

 former will attack it with the most determined spirit, yet 

 from the superior strength of the drone, it will often force 

 the bee to forego its hold by taking to its wings. The 

 prognostic of the massacre of the drones is their exile from 

 that part of the hive which contains the honey, and they are 

 obliged to betake themselves to the pedestal of the hive, and 

 in some instances the whole community are seen clustering 

 at the entrance. Totally bereft of all power to gather its own 

 food, the drone, expelled from the customary sources of its 

 nourishment becomes faint and powerless, and finally falls 

 an easy victim to the virulence and activity of the common 

 bee, but even in this state of comparative exhaustion, it 

 generally takes two and very often three bees to accomplish 

 the death of a drone. Consistently therefore with that 

 statement, if the sting were used, the death of every drone 

 would be followed by that of two or three bees, and the 

 total ruin of the hive be the consequence. 



