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.
CHAPTER V.
THE WORKERS.
Distinguishing Characteristics—Supposed Differences of Function among them—Sir John Lubbock's Experiments—Fertile Workers—Length of Life—"Black Bees"—Duties of Workers.
Fig. 9.—A Worker Bee.
a. Natural size. b. Magnified.
The workers are by far the most numerous, and, in some sense, the most important party in the commonwealth of bees. They are smaller in size than either queens or drones. Microscopic examination, and the fact of their occasionally developing the power of laying eggs, prove that they are really undeveloped females. It is hardly correct, therefore, to call them, as has been so often done, neuters. The chief structural differences to be noted in them, as compared with the other two classes in the hive, are, the possession of a long proboscis for gathering honey, of receptacles for carrying pollen, of a very formidable straight and barbed sting, and brushes on the legs for clearing different parts of the body from the farina of flowers or from dust.
The worker-eggs are deposited by the queen in the smaller-sized cells of the combs, and are the first laid in a new colony, or in the spring of the year.