BEES

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 12 February 1927, Page 9

BEES

i REVENGE UPON THE DRONES

WHEN the •bees have collected their store of honey, and most of the cells are sealed clown to provide a supply of food throughout the winter, the worker bees see to it that there are no idle inhabitants in their city. . During the summer each hive contains a few hundred drones. These are the males, and their existence is one of idleness, for from the time they crawl out of their cells to emerge as perfect insects, after the chrysalis stage, to the time when they die, they do not work. During the days of spring and the warmth of summer they have had a pleasurable existence; they have fared sumptuously; a life of countless pleasures has been theirs. No labour or lighting against rain or troublesome winds has fallen to their lot. No anxiety about storing food for future clays has worried thetn, they have had a self-satisfied existence, but at last their halcyon days come to an end. Perhaps there is no sign in the still autumn tlav to tell them that their death is near. Their sisters, the worker bees, cannot tolerate their idle existence and self-importance any longer. One feels sorry for these big. simplelooking creatures. Their pomp as they dash about the hive entrance always attracts our attention; a hive without • seems to have half its life missVang.

The flowers have censed to provide nectar and the hive is really for its winter rest, and a.t. a given signal, as it were, not only in one hive, but through-

out the whole apiary, the order goes forth that the drones are to die. Without warning, three or four Avorker bees pounce upon each unlucky drone. ’ Some of them are outside the hiA'e enjoying the sun; others are still feeding when the angry and determined Avorkers rush upon them. The big fellows, still resplendent in their gorgeous dress, hardly know Avhat is the matter. At first they do not struggle. Perhaps these hard-worked sisters of theirs simply want to move them aside. But the very eagerness of their executioners convinces them at last that if they Avish to live they must struggle hard. Their great strengh helps them for a time, and they pull arid push the workers aside. Three of these, however, hold each struggling giant Avith their jaAvs and feet, AA-hile a fourth or fifth quickly ,sever the muscles of the Avirigs. No mercy is shown. Some h.-wo their heads cut from their bodies, and all Avhich fall into the hands of the determined Avorkers are badly mauled. They are simply disarmed, disabled, and turned outside the city that requires thorn no longer. Some AA-liicli escape into the outside world try to return at night, but they find the entrance to their home ringed about by a number of sentries.

Those shut out try to And shelter in a flower, o- on a leaf, or in the grass beneath. They may rest there for a time, but AVant of food and the cold of night do for them what their sisters intended tc do.