Hi all
I spent a few minutes trying to track down "ancient writers" referring to DCAs. Since they knew so little about bee sex (they thought She was a King) it would be astonishing if they had any inkling about what the drones were *doing there,* though they may have observed these congregations. I can't find reference to it, but Aristotle did write this amusing description:

> The drones, as a rule, keep inside the hive ; when they go out of doors, they soar up in the air in a stream [with a buzzing noise] , whirling round and round in a kind of gymnastic exercise ; when this is over, they come inside the hive and feed to repletion ravenously.

source: THE WORKS OF ARISTOTLE. VOLUME IV, HISTORIA ANIMALIUM. [translated] BY D 'ARCY WENTWORTH THOMPSON. 1910.

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