BEE. 
421 
no purpose for them to be desirous of staying, as 
they are attacked on all sides, and pushed and 
dragged about without remorse by their compa- 
nions, who at length drive them out of the hive. 
Their aversion even extends to the young drones, 
who are forced from their cells and sacrificed for 
the benefit of the commonwealth. 
“ In says Mr. Hunter, “ as early as the 
nineteenth of J une, I saw the labourers killing the 
males of a hive, or rather of a swarm, that had not 
yet swarmed, but was hanging out : this, however, 
was out of the common course. They appear to be 
sensible of their fate, for they hurry in and out of 
the hive as quick as possible, seemingly with a view 
to avoid the labourers ; and we find them attacked 
by the labourers, who pinch them with their for- 
ceps ; and when they are so hurt, and fatigued with 
attempts to make their escape, as not to be able to 
fly, they are thrown over on the ground and left to 
die. That this is the fate of every male bee, is 
easily ascertained by examining every bee in the 
hive when killed for the honey, which is after this 
season ; no male being then found in it. Bonnet 
supposes them starved to death, as he never found 
wounds on them. In the course of a winter I have 
killed several hives, some as late as April, and in 
such a way as to preserve every bee ; and after ex- 
amining every one entirely, I never perceived one 
male of any kind, although it has been asserted 
there are two sizes of males, and that the small are 
