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.