46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN 



left there by my mother, besides larvae in 

 all stages of development. 



It was at this period of my youthful 

 maturity, when I was able to do good think- 

 ing, that I got hold of three colony facts, 

 and I must tell you about them, for they 

 greatly aid in figuring out the spirit of our 

 hive, besides kindling praises of the heart 

 over the mysteries and surpassing wonders 

 of intricate Nature, which indeed work bet- 

 ter than all the machinery of the great clock 

 on the cathedral of Milan, with never a 

 chime or a cuckoo to ask demonstrative at- 

 tention. One is, that however handsome 

 the Chaps, that is to say the Drones are, it 

 is more wonderful still that they are the 

 only purely male bees, and that they are 

 the direct sires of all Queens and Maids, 

 indirectly so of other Drones, since Maids 

 may possibly lay eggs, but their eggs will 

 only beget Drones. The colony and the 

 race would become extinct without Queens 

 and Drones, although the Maids, from the 



