66 THE EEB keeper's MANUAL. 



season, ought always to be examined. The queen is proba- 

 bly either diseased or dead. In my hives, such an exami- 

 nation may be easily made, the true state of the case ascer- 

 tained, and the proper remedies at once applied. (See Chop- 

 ter^on the Loss of the Queen.) 



THE PRODUCTION OF SO MANY DRONES NECESSAEi;, IN A STATE 



OF NATURE, TO PREVENT DEGENERACY FROM " IN ^ND IN 



BREEDING." 



I have often been able, by the reasons previously assigned, 

 to account for the necessity of such a large number of drones 

 in a state of nature, to the satisfaction of others, but never 

 fully to my own. I have repeatedly queried, why impreg- 

 nation might not just as well have been effected in the hive, 

 as on the wing, in the open air. Two very obvious and 

 highly important advantages would have resulted from such 

 an arrangement. 1st. A few dozen drones would have 

 amply sufficed for the wants of any colony, even if, (as in 

 tropical climates,) it swarmed half a dozen times or oftener, 

 in the same season. 2d. The young queens would havo 

 been exposed to none of those risks which they now incur, 

 in leaving the hive for fecundation. 



I was unable to show how the existing arrangement is 

 best ; although I never doubted that there must be a satis- 

 factory reason for this seeming imperfection. To suppose 

 otherwise, would be highly unphilosophical, since we con- 

 stantly see, as the circle of our knowledge is enlarged, 

 many mysteries in nature hitherto inexplicable, fully cleared 

 up. 



Let me here ask if the disposition which too many students 

 of nature cherish, to reject some of the doctrines of revealed 

 religion, is not equally unphilosophical. Neither our igno- 

 rance of all the facts necessary to their full elucidation, nor 



