77 
the workers, from about the first of May until in 
August or first of September, and appear to be the 
gentry of the hive. They do not labor ; never gather 
any honey from the flowers — indeed they could not if 
they would, not being provided with a proboscis like 
the worker bee, by which they could reach the honey 
in the flower. They have no baskets on their legs in 
which to pack and carry pollen, and they are destitute 
of a sting. Their only office is to fertilize the young 
queens. They are tolerated in the hives until Septem- 
ber or October, unless the supply of honey is deficient ; 
when that is the case, if it should last three or four 
days, or a week, an indiscriminate slaughter of the 
drones takes place. But immediately on the appear- 
ance of honey in the flowers again, they cease their 
murderous assault ; then things move smoothly along 
until September, when they are usually destroyed, 
unless some of the colonies are queenless ; in this case 
the drones are undisturbed, arid left to perish with age 
or dwindle away with the unfortunate colony. They 
are much the largest bees in the hive, and usually make 
their excursions from the hive in the middle of the 
day ; they make a loud, buzzing noise while flying in a 
still, warm day, when thousands of them are on the 
wing ; the sound they create very much resembles that 
made by bees swarming. They are usually hatched in 
about twenty-three days from the time the egg is 
deposited in the cell, and are short-lived, usually living 
three or four months, unless the workers destroy them 
sooner. 
killing off the drones by the use of the 
PATENT REGULATOR AND BEE-CATCHER. 
From the great amount of drones that is reared in 
some colonies, it is often necessary to rid the hives of 
