46 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY BEE. 



I believe that after fecundation has been delayed for about 

 three weeks, the organs of the Queen bee are in such a state 

 that impregnation can no longer be effected ; just as the parts 

 of a flower, after a certain time, wither and shut up, and the 

 plant becomes incapable of fructification. The fertile drone- 

 laying workers, are always in my opinion, physically inca- 

 pable of being impregnated. 



There is something analagous to these wonders, in the 

 aphides or green lice which infest our rose bushes and other 

 plants. We have the most undoubted evidence that a fecun- 

 dated female gives birth to other females, and they in turn 

 to others, all of which, without impregnation, are able to 

 bring forth young, until at length, after a number of genera- 

 tions, perfect males and females are produced, and the series 

 starts anew ! 



However strange it may appear, or even improbable, that 

 an unimpregnated egg can give birth to a living being, or 

 that the sex can be dependent on impregnation, we are not 

 at liberty to reject facts, because we cannot comprehend the 

 reasons of them. He who allows himself to be guilty of 

 such folly, if he seeks to maintain his consistency, will be 

 plunged, sooner, or later, into the dreary gulf of atheisnn. 

 Common sense, philosophy and religion alike teach us to 

 receive all undoubted facts, both in the natural and spiritual 

 world, with becoming reverence ; assured that however 

 mysterious they may appear to us, they are all most beauti- 

 fully harmonious and consistent in the sight of Him whose 

 " understanding is infinite." 



The unequaled facilities for easy and accurate observation, 

 furnished by the Movable Comb Hive, have seemed to ren- 

 der it peculiarly incumbent on me, to do all in my power to 

 clear up the difficulties in this intricate and yet highly impor- 

 tant branch of Apiarian knowledge. All the leading facts 



