. The animal creation: a popular introduction to zoology. Zoology. 152 HYMENOPTEKA. den. The males, or drones, when at their full comple- ment, number from six to eight hundred in a hive of ordi- nary size; they are slightly larger than the working bees, are not fiu*nished with a sting, and have a shorter pro- boscis ; the reason of their being so numerous would appear to be simply to allow the queen-bee to select her own mate, out of her numerous suitors, for after she has made her selection, they are simidtaneously butchered by the working bees, and cast forth from the hive as useless encumb
. The animal creation: a popular introduction to zoology. Zoology. 152 HYMENOPTEKA. den. The males, or drones, when at their full comple- ment, number from six to eight hundred in a hive of ordi- nary size; they are slightly larger than the working bees, are not fiu*nished with a sting, and have a shorter pro- boscis ; the reason of their being so numerous would appear to be simply to allow the queen-bee to select her own mate, out of her numerous suitors, for after she has made her selection, they are simidtaneously butchered by the working bees, and cast forth from the hive as useless encumbrances. The queen-bee alone, amidst this nume- rous assemblage, is capable of laying eggs, a circumstance easily accounted for when we reflect upon her extraordi- nary fertility. The working bees, according to Huber, are divided into two classes, the icax-worhers, to whom is intrusted the charge of procuring food and fui*nishing the materials for building the comb, and the nm-ses, which are of smaller size, occupy themselves entirely with domes- tic duties, and to whom is intrusted the nm^sing of the young brood. As the honey-bee is not instructed by its instinct to construct a nest protected by any general covering, as is the case with the wasps and termites, it is obliged to select some cavity in which to build: this is sometimes a hollow tree, but more generally the hive, artificially prepared for its reception. In this retreat the workers construct their combs, made up of an immense assemblage of hexagonal cells, in which they educate their young brood, and store away provisions for the use of the community. The combs are always sus^Jended perj^en- dicularly and parallel to each other, leaving sufficient space between them to afford passage to the insects. The cells are thus placed horizontally. Skilful geometricians have demonstrated that the shape of the individual cells is pre- cisely that which is most economical as relates to the expenditure of wax used in their constr
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectzoology
