Longevity of the Honey -Bee. 61 
within twenty-four days of that time. I carefully watched the pro- 
ceedings of the family during the remainder of the year, but till the 
close of autumn nothing different was noticeable in their proceed- 
ings from what would have taken place, if the queen had been with 
them, excepting that there was no massacre of the drones, nor any 
deposition of fresh ova ; both the store and the brood-cells were 
richly furnished with honey. The hive was situated in an upper apart- 
ment of my dwelling-house, well protected from cold, the quick- 
silver in Fahrenheit's thermometer, which hung near them, seldom 
ranging below 45 and never lower than 43. The drones began 
to decline in number towards the end of October, and by the mid- 
dle of November not a single drone remained. Soon after their ex- 
tinction there was a gradual but manifest diminution of the working- 
bees. They continued decreasing till the 30th of December, when 
only thirteen remained alive : these were quite active on the morn- 
ing of that day, but before night two of them had expired ; the other 
three, when I retired to rest about eleven o'clock, were moving brisk- 
ly about upon the comb, but when I rose next morning (31st) they 
also had closed their career. Apprehending when the family be- 
came very much reduced, that so small a number of bees would be 
unable to maintain a due degree of heat, I not only surrounded the 
hive with a thick coating of wool, but kept a fire in the apartment 
night and day, which preserved a regular temperature of between 
50 and 60 Fahrenheit. 
From this detail it will, I think, appear pretty evident, that the 
average life of the drone is about four months, whilst that of the 
working-bee is extended to about six months. It will also appear 
that their lives are cut off rather suddenly, 
" The race and realm, from age to age remain, 
Time still renewing with new links the chain." 
On the extinction of the family I took from the hive nearly twelve 
pounds of fine liquid honey. 
The result of this experiment, as respects the length of the work- 
ing bee's life, fully confirms, so far as a single experiment can do, 
the opinion which I had previously formed, and it receives additional 
strength from another that was instituted by Reaumur. He marked 
500 bees in April with red varnish, and saw them alive a month af- 
terwards ; but in the succeeding November not one of them could be 
distinguished. This circumstance, standing alone, cannot be regard- 
ed as conclusive ; for, in the first place, the red varnish might have 
peeled off, prior to his last observation, and, in the next place, it is 
