THE DRONE. 
15 
queen’s ovary, it is brought in contact with the drone sperm to 
produce workers, or is allowed to pass without such contact to 
produce drones, the same as eggs laid before her impregnation. 
Some have supposed this contact to be produced by compression 
of the queen’s abdomen, caused by the size of the cells in which 
workers are reared, they being much smaller than drone cells. 
This theory is disproved by the fact that a stock deprived of its 
drone-comb, will sometimes rear drones in worker cells ; besides, 
in comb-building, the queen will frequently deposit eggs in the 
cells while their walls are scarcely an eighth of an inch long and 
could cause no pressure. 
THE DRONE. 
“ The drones are the males, and do not work for the support of 
the hive , hut lead an idle life, feeding upon the produce of others' 
labor ." — Richardson. 
The drones are more bulky, though somewhat shorter, than 
the queen, and, unlike her, their wings are long enough to cover 
the entire abdomen. They are much larger than the workers, 
and have a clumsy, uncouth appearance. When flying, their 
loud, boisterous hum is easily recognized. Being without a sac 
for carrying honey or grooves on their thighs for pollen, they are 
physically disqualified for performing any labors of the hive. 
Their proboscis is too short for extracting the nectar from flow- 
ers, and being destitute of a sting, they cannot assist in protect- 
ing the stores from robbery. They are called into existence at 
the approach of the swarming season to fertilize the young 
queens. As impregnation is effected while on the wing, the 
