The Progress of the Race 
has time to erect solid and well-stored 
dwellings before the arrival of autumn. 
If left to themselves, it is clear that these 
hives and their offshoots would have 
been the only ones to survive the rigours 
of winter, which would almost invariably 
have destroyed colonies animated by dif- 
ferent instincts ; and the law of restricted 
swarming would therefore by slow de- 
grees have established itself in our north- 
ern races. But it is precisely these 
prudent, opulent, acclimatised hives that 
man has always destroyed in order to 
possess himself of their treasure. He 
has permitted only —he does so to this 
day in ordinary practice—the feeblest 
colonies to survive; degenerate stock, 
secondary or tertiary swarms, which have 
just barely sufficient food to subsist 
through the winter, or whose miserable 
store he will supplement perhaps with a 
few droppings of honey. The result is, 
409 
