44 THE BEE AS AN INSECT. [Ch. i. 



only, and negative evidence can never set aside positive : 

 thus when he tells us that he " has not observed " earlier 

 activity or greater courage or less sensitiveness, while 

 others of unquestioned judgment have observed these 

 points, we cannot hesitate to decide in the favour of the 

 latter. As to less disposition to sting, the positive evi- 

 dence should be on the Baron's side when he says that 

 theyrti? sting; but in this case, as we have seen, he partly 

 concedes the point. As to productiveness and fecundity, 

 there may be some undetected peculiarity about this bee 

 to which something in the Seebach apiary or neighbour- 

 hood is not so congenial as in other parts. At all events. 

 Dr. Dzierzon is unmoved from his faith, for. we find him 

 in the present year giving as the result of twenty-five 

 years' experience that this bee is "as gentle, diligent, and 

 prolific as it is beautiful;'' that it "bears our German 

 climate well, and that its preservation in purity is with 

 some care quite possible." 



Still some persons are sure to be disappointed with a 

 foreign bee, just as some will be with a foreign country. 

 Some have had their expectations raised too highly, and 

 expect wonderful results to follow without effort; others, 

 on the contrary, are so wrapt up in the new treasure that 

 they cherish it with vastly greater pains than their other 

 bees, and thus attribute to the bee itself what is partly to 

 be credited to their own superior care. In particular, with 

 regard to the greater fecundity of the queens, we think 

 some allowance ought to be made for the circumstance 



