THE DRONES.
Distinguishing Characteristics--Time of Hatching--Numbers--Purposes
served by them--Destruction by Workers or other means--Unusual
Survival.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--A Drone.]
The drones are the male population of the bee-community. In general
form they are more cylindrical than the queens or workers. They are
shorter than the former, but larger and more robust than the latter.
Their colour is of a deeper brown, and they are much more hairy,
especially at the lower extremity. Their wings are strong, and greater
in proportion to the length of their bodies than those of the females
or neuters, reaching, indeed, to the full extent of their abdomen. The
posterior expansion of the lower pair gives a broad backward sweep,
and enables the heavy body of the drone to fly with great rapidity, and
to rise very freely in the air. Another peculiarity of structure is
the vertical enlargement of the compound eyes. By the meeting of these
eyes over the brow, the drone is able more readily to see the virgin
queen when she issues for her one bridal excursion. Drones have a
strong odour, which becomes very perceptible when several are confined
together in a box. Their proboscis is not fit for the collection of
honey; moreover they have no receptacle for carrying the liquid, and,
in fact, show no inclination even to feed themselves from flowers.
They take their nourishment from what is stored in the cells. As Evans
accurately and concisely says of them, they
"wheel around
On heavier wing, and hum a deeper sound.
No sharpened sting they boast; yet, buzzing loud,
Before the hive, in threatening circles, crowd
The unwieldy drones. Their short proboscis sips
No luscious nectar from the wild thyme's lips;
From the lime's leaf no amber drops they steal,
Nor bear their grooveless thighs the foodful meal;
On others' toils, in pampered leisure, thrive
The lazy fathers of the industrious hive."
This inability to feed themselves from Nature's sources makes them
almost unique among the fully developed creatures of the animal
world. Their consumption of the stores of the hive is not resented
by the workers till the swarming season is over, and what is further
remarkable is, that they are permitted to enter without molestation
communities other than that in which they were bred, though strange
workers would be strictly prohibited from such trespassing.
The first drones of the season appear generally about the middle of
April, but they are most numerously hatched in May and June. The
actual number in a hive varies from 500 to 2,000. Only one or two of
these will become the mates of as many young queens, and the question
is often asked, What can be the use of such an immense superfluity
of males? The best answer that can be given is, that it is extremely
important, considering the dangers to which a virgin queen is exposed
in her flight from the hive, that there should be no difficulty for
her in meeting with a spouse. When drones are scarce, and a very early
swarm has issued from a hive, it happens sometimes that the young queen
remaining at the head of the stock has to make several flights before
finding a mate. As she is liable to be snapped up by birds, or driven
away by gusts of wind, or lost through not knowing her own hive, it is
manifestly far safer for the supply of drones to be large enough to
insure a meeting on the first occasion of her flying.
It has been suggested by some bee-keepers that the eggs are fertilised
in the cells by the drones, after the manner of the ova of fishes; but
this theory is utterly untenable in view of the fact that much brood is
found in the hives at seasons when, as a rule, no drones exist, _i.e._
in the early spring and late autumn.
From a reference to drones in the _Troades_ of Euripides (lines
191-195), it would almost seem that the ancient Greeks, five centuries
before Christ, had an idea that the male bees were the door-keepers of
the hives, and the guardians of the young. We know, however, that this
is not the case.
Again, certain Polish writers have asserted that the drones are the
water-carriers of the community; but this notion is as fanciful and
groundless as the preceding idea.
A more sensible supposition is that by their numbers the warmth of
the hive necessary for the hatching and development of the larvæ is
promoted, and that, in consequence, more of the workers are freed for
honey-getting and pollen-gathering. One objection to this theory has
been made on the score that, when there is most need for the heat of
the hive to be maintained, viz., in the winter, all the drones are
dead; but the reply to this is, that at that season there are no stores
to be collected, and therefore no need for the workers to be liberated
from indoor duties.
It is certain that bee-keepers who have taken the trouble to catch
or to destroy hundreds of drones from their hives, have not found
themselves rewarded by a greater amount of produce or by stronger
stocks through saving what the murdered drones would have eaten. At
the same time, where a honey-harvest is desired, there is little doubt
it is well for some control to be exercised over the number of drones
hatched in the hive. This can be governed, to a considerable extent,
by furnishing the bees with "foundation comb," the rudimentary cells
of which are of the size adapted only for workers. Still, there is no
doubt of the practical importance of having a good supply of males in
the hives during the swarming time. When they are no longer of use, the
workers expel them. By many it has been asserted that the drones are
stung to death; but any one who takes the trouble to watch what goes
on in July and August, will see that, for the most part, the neuters
seize their brethren by the wing, and drag them from the entrance of
the home. If much resistance is made, they will persevere in trying
to keep them away; but, at last, when patience is exhausted, they
will bite the wings underneath, and so render them almost powerless.
Harassed in these ways, and prevented from taking food from the cells,
the drones die of starvation in large numbers. A few may be stung to
death. Many will creep to unfrequented parts of the comb, in hope of
escaping notice; and if a side box, or unoccupied back of a wooden
hive, be opened for them, they will congregate there. Mr. Henry Taylor
mentions in his _Bee-Keepers Manual_, that, on one occasion, he found
as many as 2,200 which had thus clustered in an empty side box. He
took them away, and the other bees went to work with more vigour after
having been thus relieved of their useless population, as if they were
glad to be rid of those who were consumers, but non-producers.
In many instances, especially when food-supplies are running short, and
are not easily replaceable, the workers will drag out the just emerging
drones from their cells, together with pupæ and larvæ, and will cast
them forth to die.
If no necessity for swarming occurs, through there being plenty of room
in the hive for the extension of the colony, or for any other reason,
either no royal cells will be made, or the young princesses will be
destroyed as they approach maturity. In this case, an unusually early
destruction of the males will occur, as the workers instinctively know
there is little use in permitting them to continue alive. Still, some
will be allowed to exist, for the sake of other communities, as it is
now maintained, with much show of reason, that a young queen selects
for her consort a drone not belonging to her own hive. The importance
of this crossing of breed, for keeping up the vigour of the race, is
one of the best ascertained facts in natural history. While, then, we
cannot suppose the bees to be aware of the benefits to be derived from
this "selection before marriage," we see in it one more circumstance
indicating the marvellous capabilities of so-called "instinct"--we
would prefer very much to say one more proof of the all-pervading
superintendence of a Divine Mind, which works throughout what we call
Nature. We might, indeed, expect that He, without whose supervision
not a sparrow alights on the ground in search of its food, would show
to our intelligent inquiries equally plain evidence of His universal
working, and of His infinitely wise determination of all that has to
do with the welfare and the permanence of the various classes of the
animal and vegetable worlds.