NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 
49 
of a tit-bit in the shape of a newly laid egg, ever experi¬ 
ence a struggle between appetite and duty; so that they 
must practice sell-denial to refrain from breakfasting on 
the eggs so temptingly deposited in the cells. 
It is well known to breeders of poultry, that the fertility 
of a hen decreases with age, until at length she may 
become entirely barren. By the same law, the fecundity 
of the queen-bee ordinarily diminishes after she has entered 
her third year. An old queen sometimes ceases to lay 
worker-eggs; the contents of her spermatheca becoming 
exhausted, the eggs are no longer impregnated, and pro¬ 
duce only drones. 
The queen-bee usually dies of old age in her fourth year, 
although she has been known to live much longer. There 
is great advantage, therefore, in hives which allow her, 
when she has passed the period of her greatest fertility, to 
be easily removed. 
Before proceeding farther in the natural history of the 
queen-bee, I shall describe more particularly the other 
inmates of the hive. 
The Drones are, unquestionably, the 
male bees; dissection proving that they 
have the appropriate organs of genera¬ 
tion- They are much larger and stouter 
than either the queen or workers; 
although their bodies are not quite so 
long as that of the queen. They have no sting with which 
to defend themselves; and no suitable proboscis for gath¬ 
ering honey from the flowers ; no baskets on their thighs 
for holding bee-bread, and no pouches on their abdomens 
for secreting wax. They are, therefore, physically dis¬ 
qualified for the ordinary work of the hive. Their proper 
office is to impregnate the young queens, and they are 
3 
