Though only a single female can exist in a swarm, several hundreds, and sometimes thousands, • of drones inhabit it. They originate towards the summer sea son, eleven months after, the queen has commenced laying those eggs that .become workers, that is, when the propagation of the colony takes place. The sole office of the drones, so far as has yet been discovered, is to fecundate the queen ; for we can scarcely admit, as several authors have done, that their heat and custom of crowding on the combs is instru mental in hatching the young - brood. Concerning the structure of the genital organs, which are extreme ly complicated, we shatl refer to the works of Swam merdam, Reaumur, and Huber, who have expatiated on it at great length. Drones want a sting ; and there is a difference in the conformation of several other. parts of the body, as the trunk and antenna?, from those of females and workers. They do not collect honey, but consume it ; and instead of entering the cells, as the females and workers do, for repose, they cluster together on the combs. If the sole-office of drones be to fecundate the queen, we cannot well ac count for their numbers. Why should thousands dwell in a hive a burden on the community, when one is enough to perpetuate their race, and when only a single impregnation is required ? Naturalists, who have ascribed the fecundation of the queen bee to a certain aura emanating from the males, judged it es sential that they should be in numbers, that the aura might have sufficient power or intensity. Those observers, again, who have demonstrated, that impreg nation is operated without the hive, deem it necessary that the drones should be numerous, otherwise the queen would have little chance of meeting any one in her course through the air : and others, even the most acute persons, who allowed themselves to believe, that here the solicitation was on the part of the female, thought that this redundancy of males was given, in or der that she might make her choice. These reasons are to us alike unsatisfactory : the from its being ut terly adverse to the laws which regulate the preserva tion of animals ; the second, from resting on no surer basis than on simple conjecture, still unsanctioned by evidence ; and the third, from being a conclusion on facts which never happen. Nevertheless it. is un questionable, that a hive, deprived of drones, will pro duce no young, though we cannot form an idea of the precise number necessary for the ends of generation.
After a particular period of the year, when the queen has been impregnated, and when the masculine n properties of the drones are no longer of any use, they b are mercilessly destroyed by those very workers which once watched so carefully over their origin. This is a fact well known, and has given birth to various hypo theses. In Britain, as in other countries, the period of the massacre probably depends on the advancement of the season, and always happens during the autumn months. The drones then flying from destruction, are seen on the flowers, occupying the panes of our windows, or wandering about from hive to hive, which they no sooner enter than death awaits them. This incident occurs sooner on the continent, where the seasons are earlier, compared with ours ; and we shall cite the substance of some observations by a Swiss naturalist, by which it is materially Illustrated.
" It is usually in the months of July and August that the bees free themselves of the males. They arc at that time drove away and pursued to the inmost parts of the hive, where they collect in numbers : and as many are then found dead on the ground, it was to be concluded that, after being expelled the hive, they are stung to death by the bees. Yet, on the surface of the comb, the sting is never observed to be used against them ; the bees seem satisfied with pursuing and chasing them away. To ascertain the truth, we thought of getting the support of the hive made of glass, and of placing ourselves below, to discover what passed in the scene of action. A glass ta ble was therefore constructed, on which six hives con taining swarms of the same year were put, and lying under it, we endeavoured to see in what manner the drones were destroyed. Our contrivance succeeded to admiration : on the 4th of July, we saw the work ers actually massacre the males in the whole six swarms, at the same hour, and with the same pecu liarities. The glass table was covered with bees full of animation, which flew on the drones as they came from the bottom of the hives ; seized them by the an tennae, the wings, and the limbs ; and, after having dragged them about, or, so to speak, after quartering them, they killed the unfortunate victims by repeat ed stings, directed between the rings of the belly. The moment that the formidable weapon, with which the workers are armed, touched them, was the last of their existence; they stretched their wings and expi red. At the same time, as if the workers did not con sider them so completely dead as they appeared to us, they struck the sting so deep that it could scarcely be withdrawn. Next day having resumed our position, we witnessed new scenes of carnage : during three hours the bees' furiously destroyed their males. On the preceding evening they had massacred all their own ; but now they attacked those which, driven from the neighbouring hives, had taken refuge amongst them. We saw them also tear some remaining nymphs from the combs : they greedily sucked the whole fluid from the abdomen, and then carried them away. The following days no drones remained in the hives." The cause of this cruel extirpation of so great a portion of the community, is very far from being evi dent. It is not enough to say, that it is from the ' drones being no .onger of any use in propagating the species ; or that their numbers would be a burden i on the rest, seeing they are altogether inefficient. Conclusions deduced from either of these reasons, are not to be admitted in our present state of knowledge respecting the natural history of bees. Probably, however, our attention should be directed to the con sequences of the drones having fulfilled the purposes of generation ; for they arc never destroyed in hives wanting queens, nor in hives where queens lay eggs producing males only. In both situations they are tolerated and fed, and may be seen living in perfect security throughout the winter. The massacre hap pens in those hives alone possessing queens complete ly fertile ; but never until the season of swarming has elapsed.