COMPARATIVE VARIABILITY IN THE HONEY BEE. 1 9 



Italian her drones would also be pure Italian, since they are pro- 

 duced from parthenogenetic eggs, and the fact that she was 

 mated with a black drone should make no difference. He found, 

 however, that 149 of the drones did show some markings which 

 he thought indicated hybridism, and from these observations 

 rejected the theory of Dzierzon. His results were criticised 

 severely and all manner of arguments were used against them, 

 atavism, impurity of the queen and other reasons being given in 

 explanation. Weighing the arguments of Perez and those pre- 

 sented in opposition to them, however, would lead one to believe 

 that Perez had the best of the argument. If then we accept the 

 theory of Dzierzon, and it is well established, we must account 

 for the results of Perez. 



An examination of a large number of hives has shown us that 

 the coloration of the drones cannot be used as a test of their 

 purity, and that, therefore, Perez' work is inaccurate, since he 

 used this test as the basis of his argument. Drones from an 

 Italian queen fertilized by an Italian drone show gradations in 

 amount of coloration of the segments of the abdomen which 

 would easily lead one to conclude that some of them were not 

 pure, provided the evidence for their purity was not so strong ; 

 while at the same time the workers from the same queen show a 

 uniformity of marking which is very striking. In the face of 

 these facts it is evident that extent of coloration could not be 

 used as a basis for investigation in relation to parthenogenetic 

 development in the case of the bee. It might also be added that 

 the fact of the irregularity of coloration of the drones is well 

 known to most bee-keepers, and a number of these men have 

 stated to us that they do not consider the coloration of the drones 

 as in any sense a test of purity. 



This little investigation led to the conclusion that possibly the 

 drones showed more variation in other ways than did the work- 

 ers, and to test this the measurements here recorded were made. 



We wish to express our appreciation to Mr. E. L. Pratt, of 

 Swarthmore, Pa., for material furnished, and especially to Mr. E. 

 R. Root, of Medina, Ohio, for material and for many courtesies 

 shown during investigations carried on by one of us in his apiary. 



