58 NATURAL HISTORY OP THE HONEY BEE. 



from its fatal course, no Sun of Eighteousness will ever 



brighten for him the dreary expanse of waters ; storms and 



whirlwinds will thicken in gloom, on his " voyage of life," 



and no favoring gales will ever waft his shattered bark to a 



peaceful haven. 



The thoughtful reader will require no apology for the 



moralizing strain of many of my remarks, nor blame a 



clergyman, if sometimes forgetting to speak as the mere 



naturalist, he endeavors to find, 



" Tongues in trees, books in running brooks, 

 Sermons in ' bees,' and ' God ' in every thing." 



To return to the point from which I have digressed ; a 

 new attempt to account for the existence of so many drones. 

 If a farmer persists in what is called " breeding in and in," 

 that is, from the same stock, without changing the blood, it is 

 well known that ultimate degteneracy is the inevitable conse- 

 quence. This law extends, as far as we know, to all animal 

 life, and even man is not exempt from its influence. Have 

 we any reason to suppose that the bee is an exception } or 

 that degeneracy would not ensue, unless some provision 

 were made to counteract the tendency to in and in breed- 

 ing .' If fecundation had taken place in the hive, the 

 Queen bee must have been impregnated by drones from a 

 common parent, and the same result must have taken place 

 in each successive generation, until the whole species would 

 eventually have " run out." By the present arrangement, 

 the young Queens when they leave the hive, often find ,the 

 air swarming with drones, many of which belong to other 

 colonies, and thus by crossing the breed, a provision is con- 

 stantly made to prevent deterioration. 



Experience has proved not only that it is unnecessary to 

 impregnation that there should be drones in the colony of the 

 young Queen, but that this may be effected even when there 



