70 
THE FUNCTIONS OF BEES. 
of atmosphere, destroy them in hundreds. In the 
clear cold mornings and evenings of autumn, their 
eagerness for foraging entices them abroad early and 
late; when, alighting on the ground, many are cLilled, 
and quickly perish. And should they escape the 
blighting atmosphere at the close of autumn, a bright 
sunshine in a winter day, when the ground perhaps is 
covered with snow, brings them abroad in multitudes, 
and the half of them never return. From these causes, 
independent of the numbers which fall a prey to 
enemies, a swarm which in July amounted to fifteen 
or twenty thousand, will, by the following February 
or March, have dwindled to a mere handful. It is 
otherwise with the Queen ; going seldom abroad, she 
is little exposed to accidents. Her natural life is 
prolonged to several years, though the precise extent 
has not been accurately ascertained. In 1 831 we 
had one in our possession, which we had ever)' rea- 
son to believe was not less than four years old. 
Functions of the Male or Drone , — (see PI. I. Fig. 
1.) — The sole office of the Male, or at least the pri- 
mary one, is to pair with the Queen. He is the 
father of the hive. Indolent and luxurious, he takes 
no part in the internal operations of the domicile, 
and never leaves it with a view of sharing in the 
labours of the field. When he does venture abroad, 
it is only in the finest weather, and during the 
warmest part of the day, at which time the young 
Queens are instinctively led to go out in search of the 
male. He is easily distinguished from the workers 
by his larger size, by his heavy motion in flight, and 
