The Life of the Bee 
vation of the race? Or is it merely an 
exaggerated reaction against the misfor- 
tune of the unfruitful queen? Can we 
have here one of those blind and extreme 
precautions which, ignoring the cause of 
the evil, overstep the remedy; and, in 
the endeavour to prevent an unfortunate 
accident, bring about a catastrophe? In 
reality —though we must not forget that 
the natural, primitive reality is different 
from that of the present, for in the origi- 
nal forest the colonies might well be far 
more scattered than they are to-day — 
in reality the queen’s unfruitfulness will 
rarely be due to the want of males, for 
these are very numerous always, and will 
flock from afar; but rather to the rain, or 
the cold, that will have kept her too long 
in the hive, and more frequently still to the 
imperfect state of her wings, whereby she 
will be prevented from describing the high 
flight in the air that the organ of the male 
272 
