Roman Catholic diocese.

DROMOS (Gr. for running-place), in architecture, the name of the
entrance passage leading down to the beehive tombs in Greece, open to
the air and enclosed between stone walls.

DRONE, in music[1] (corresponding to Fr. _bourdon_; Ger. _Summer_,
_Stimmer_, _Hummel_; Ital. _bordone_), the bass pipe or pipes of the
bagpipe, having no lateral holes and therefore giving out the same note
without intermission as long as there is wind in the bag, thus forming a
continuous pedal, or drone bass. The drone consists of a jointed pipe
having a cylindrical bore and usually terminating in a bell. During the
middle ages bagpipes are represented in miniatures with conical
drones,[2] and M. Praetorius[3] gives a drawing of a bagpipe, which he
calls _Grosser Bock_, having two drones ending in a curved ram's horn.
The drone pipe has, instead of a mouthpiece, a socket fitted with a
reed, and inserted into a stock or short pipe immovably fixed in an
aperture of the bag. The reed is of the kind known as beating reed or
_squeaker_, prepared by making a cut in the direction of the
circumference of the pipe and splitting back the reed from the cut
towards a joint or knot, thus leaving a flap or tongue which vibrates or
beats, alternately opening and closing the aperture. The sound is
produced by the stream of air forced from the bag by the pressure of the
performer's arm causing the reed tongue to vibrate over the aperture,
thus setting the whole column of air in vibration. Like all cylindrical
pipes with reed mouthpiece, the drone pipe has the acoustic properties
of the closed pipe and produces a note of the same pitch as that of an
open pipe twice its length. The conical drones mentioned above would,
therefore, speak an octave higher than a cylindrical drone of the same
length. The drones are tuned by means of sliding tubes at the joints.

The drones of the old French _cornemuse_ played in concert with the
_hautbois de Poitou_ (see BAGPIPE), and differing from the shepherd's
_cornemuse_ or _chalemie_, formed an exception to this method of
construction, being furnished with double reeds like that of the oboe.
The drones of the musette and of the union pipes of Ireland are also
constructed on an altogether different plan. Instead of having long
cumbersome pipes, pointing over the shoulder, the musette drones consist
of a short barrel containing lengths of tubing necessary for four or
five drones, reduced