134 The Honey-Makers 



But even here the strange Nemesis of the drone's hfe 

 follows him. The victor puts forth his splendid powers to 

 the utmost, succeeds, provides for the hfe of coundess 

 descendants, and as a result dies. 



Nor is this the end of the tragic tale. As the season 

 advances and the drones are no longer needed, they are 

 slaughtered in the most ruthless manner by the workers. 

 Huber gives a graphic account of this act of anticipative 

 economy, he having constructed a glass support for his 

 hives, beneath which one could lie and observe what took 

 place within. He placed six hives upon the glass table, 

 and this is what he says : — 



" On the 4th of July, we saw the workers actually 

 massacre the males in the whole six swarms, at the same 

 hour, and with the same peculiarities. The glass table 

 was covered with bees full of animation, rushing upon the 

 drones as they came from the bottom of the hive ; they 

 seized them by the antennae, the limbs, and the wings, 

 and, after having dragged them about, or, so to speak, 

 after quartering them, they killed them by repeated stings 

 directed between the rings of the belly. The moment that 

 this formidable weapon reached them was the last of their 

 existence : they stretched their wings and expired. At the 

 same time, as if the workers did not consider them as dead 

 as they appeared to us, they still darted it so deep that it 

 could hardly be withdrawn, and they were obliged to turn 

 round upon themselves before the stings could be 

 disengaged. 



'' Next day, having resumed our former position, we 

 witnessed new scenes of carnage. During three hours, the 

 bees furiously destroyed the males. They had massacred 

 all their own on the preceding evening, but now they 

 attacked those which, driven from the neighboring hives, 

 had taken refuge amongst them. We saw them also tear 



