8 miner's AMERICAN 



turies had past in wild speculation, cause the films to fall 

 from the eyes of the naturalists of the day, and they 

 came to the conclusion that the impregnation of the 

 queen bee must be effected in the like manner. 



That eighteen hundred years should have past away, 

 before this simple fact should have become developed, is 

 truly a matter of surprise ! Yet it is a matter of still 

 greater surprise, that many apiarians of the present day 

 pertinaciously adhere to ancient notions in regard to 

 the agency of the' drones in the impregnation of the 

 queen, and utterly refuse to divest themselves of tradi- 

 tions founded in error and superstition. 



That such is the natural use and purpose for which 

 drones were created, viz : to effect impregnation on the 

 wing, I presume the reader will readily believe, on 

 hearing what I have to say on the subject hereafter^ in 

 Chap. iii. devoted to "drones." 



HUBER, THE GREAT (?) APIARIAN. 



Huber, a German naturalist of distinction, who flour- 

 ished at the close of the eighteenth century, has placed 

 this question beyond a doubt ; provided that we may 

 place confidence in his statements, which I consider 

 somewhat questionable. 



Since Huber is cited as orthodox authority by almost 

 every writer on the honey bee, or at least by a very 

 large portion of them, and inasmuch as many emi- 

 nent naturalists and apiarians consider the greater por- 

 tion of his writings as an ingenious fabrication of expe- 



