CHAPTER II.

DRONES OR MALES.

THESE are about the most idle and unfortunate creatures in existence. They are generally hatched in dronecombs; that is to say, in cells larger, considerably larger, than those of common workers. These large cells, built up together, are called drone-comb. The less drone-comb there is in a hive, the better it is for breeding purposes; for though the bees can rear drones in worker-cells, they never rear workers in drone-cells. When a hive has much drone-comb in it, there will be produced a superabundance of idle fellows, which will consume a great deal of honey. Drone-combs are generally situated on the extreme outsides of the worker-combs, but sometimes they are found near the centre of the hive. It is the position and number of drone-cells in a hive that determines the number of drones reared. If such cells are near the centre, drones will put in an appearance long before the hive is ready for swarming; and if on the outside of the combs, the hive will be ready for swarming about the time drones are first hatched. The appearance of drones is therefore no safe guide as to the ripeness of a hive for swarming.

The drones are twenty-four days in being hatched from eggs; that is, they come to perfection in twenty-four days, being three days longer in their cells than workers, and ten days longer than queens.

But why so many idle fellows in a community remarkable for industry and activity?

It is easier to ask the question than to answer it. They are produced for a purpose, and that is the impregnation of queens. When the importance of this impregnation is considered, the apparent want of economy in the production of so many otherwise useless creatures will not be wondered at. The time given for this impregnation is very limited-ten or twelve days at most. When weather is cold or wet, drones do not leave their hives; and even when the weather is fair and favourable, they do not all leave their hives at the same time. As the reader is already aware that copulation takes place outdoors—it may be at some distance from the hive-he will see at once why so many drones are usually produced. Better to have a superabundance of 10,000 drones than the queen fail to meet one. The more drones in a hive-indeed, the more hives in a garden-when a queen becomes marriageable, the more likely is she to be seen and mated when she leaves on that errand.

Queens and drones, the product of one mother, mate without the least deterioration of blood. In-and-in breeding amongst bees for generations and ages does not in the smallest degree produce bad results.

The great characteristic of a drone bee is his laziness. He will die of want rather than work. Drones have never been known to do ". a hand's turn." In fact it is a question whether they feed themselves in the midst of plenty. We daresay they do sometimes; but how frequently are they to be seen stooping down to be fed by the working bees! If the reader has seen young sparrows or pigeons fed by the old ones, he will be able to form a pretty correct idea as to the way in which the working bees pump honey out of their bags into those of the drones.

Drones wanting to be fed place their feeding-tubes alongside of those of workers, and thus remain apparently motionless while the pumping process goes on.

But these idle gentlemen know the country geographically better than the working community. In fine weather they take longer excursions into the country for pleasure than working bees do for food. If a hive be removed in fine weather two miles, some few bees and a great many drones return to the old place. If removed three or four miles, a considerable number of drones return, but no workers. Drones have been known to return five miles.

Comparatively useless in their lives, drones come to a sorrowful end. What is termed the massacre of drones is a strangely cruel process: they are starved to death. Well might a great naturalist, and a friend of the writer, exclaim," The climax of drone-life is wonderful-a chapter of horrors, which clouds the harmony of an otherwise beautiful system of insect-life."

About fourteen days after the queen of a hive has been impregnated, or some days after she has begun to lay, the working bees begin to haul and maul the drones about. Day by day the bees seem more anxious to worry the drones, and feign to sting them, but seldom use their stings. Inside the hive the drones are driven from the honeycombs, and may be found in heaps on the board for days. Here they become weak from want; and when they leave their hive many of them have savage tormentors on their backs. Some fall off the flight-board so weak that they cannot fly; but most die at a distance, being unable to return.

Some drones go with the first swarm, but as they are not wanted there they are soon destroyed. But as the hives of these first swarms become full of combs and bees, drone-cells are built, and preparations for swarming are

made as in the old hive in spring.

Soon the first swarm

will be as full, and contain probably as many drones as the mother hive did when on the eve of swarming. If this swarm be kept full and prosperous, drones may be continuously reared till the end of the season, when the general massacre takes place. But often the lives of drones and drone-brood are destroyed during weather unfavourable for gathering honey. On the appearance or prospect of hard times the bees destroy these comparatively useless creatures and cast them out of their hives. ever white drones are seen being cast out, the owner may be pretty certain that his bees are on the border-land of starvation. The lives of drones being always cut short, no one can say how long they would live if let alone.

When

CHAPTER III.

THE WORKING BEES.

THE common working bees are twenty-one days in their cells, and live nine months. Probably nine-tenths of them die, from some cause or another, before they have reached their alloted span; but at the end of nine months or thereabouts, after their birth, all perish. The working bees are considerably smaller than either queens or drones. They do all the work and drudgery of the hive, and do it with a willingness and activity that beggar description. They manufacture the wax, build the combs, gather honey by day, and store it away by night. It is hard to believe that they never sleep, though we have never seen one either sleepy or asleep, in summer or winter.

Put a swarm into an empty hive; in less than an hour the working bees commence to clean it out. Speedily the foundation of a great and wonderful city is laid. GREAT BEE! Some one has said, that steps forth to lay the first stone of a city that can never be excelled for architectural beauty and order—a city of wax, in which may be born yearly 300,000 beings-brave loyal citizens! For industry, ingenuity, and courage the working bees stand very high.

THE INDUSTRY OF BEES.

How few bee-keepers know the worth of their own stock-the value of their own servants! No writer can