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36 He is always a clumsy chap, as awkward as his queen is graceful; but he can scramble out of the way with astonishing celerity when a murderously inclined sister attacks him. The time when he shows his princely qualities is when he is flying, for his wings are large and strong and carry him easily several miles if he needs to travel so far to win his lady. In his physical makeup he is a fine example of a purely feminine product; for the drone is a very perfect creature, even if he is reared from an unimpregnated egg. His magnificent compound eyes almost completely encircle his head, nearly meeting at the top, and thus crowding his simple eyes down into his "forehead." And such eyes as these mean something surely, for they are developed that he may be better able to see his heart's desire from afar. He also has marvellous antennae, the nine distal joints of which are completely pitted with smelling organs. The reason for this is that his queen has a fragrance all her own, sweeter to him than the attar of roses, and thus he is equipped, as Cheshire has proven, wath thirty-seven thousand eight hundred nostrils, in order to detect the perfume of her royal person at a distance. (Plate VII, G.)

The life-history of the drone after he hatches from his unfertilised egg is much like that of other bees, except that for him is provided a cell larger than that of the worker; he hatches from the egg about three days after it is laid, and during the week following he is carefully attended by the nurses who feed him on the rich chyle food at first; after four days they give