PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 175 
tile (that is, which lay both worker and male eggs,) this 
is the unhappy fate of the drones; yet in those where 
the queen only lays male eggs, they are suffered to re- 
main unmolested ; and in hives deprived of their queen, 
they also find a secure asylum?. 
What it is that, in the former instance, excites the 
fury of the bees against the males, is not easy to dis- 
cover; but some conjecture may perhaps be formed from 
the circumstances last related. When only males are 
produced by the queen, the bees seem aware that some- 
thing more is wanted, and retain the males; the same is 
the case when they have no queen; and when one is 
procured, they appear to know that she would not profit 
them without the males. Their fury then is connected 
with their utility: when the queen is impregnated, which 
lasts for her whole life, as if they knew that the drones 
could be of no further use, and would only consume 
their winter stores of provision, they destroy them; 
which surely is more merciful than expelling them, in 
which case they must inevitably perish from hunger. 
But when the queen only produces males, their num- 
bers are not sufficient to cause alarm; and the same rea- 
soning applies to the case when there is no queen. 
Having brought the males from their cradle to their 
untimely grave, and amused you with the little that is 
known of their uneventful history, I shall now, at last, 
call you to attend to the proceedings of the workers them- 
selves; and here I am afraid, long as I have detained 
you, I must still press you to expatiate with me ina 
Huber, i. 199. 
