676 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Let us take a colony with a virgin queen like the one left after a 

 swarm is cast. It sometimes happens that the queen is defective in some 

 way so that she cannot fly from her hive to meet a drone. This may be 

 caused by mutilated or weak wings, or possibly the queen shows no 

 disposition to fly. On the other hand, the weather may not be favorable 

 for her flight, or there may be no drones in the air when she does fly. 

 Evidently any of these conditions will prevent mating; and when this 

 occurs we are enabled to see one of the most remarkable phenomena of 

 the hive. The observer who wishes to study this phase of bee activity 

 may bring about the same conditions bj^ cutting off the wings of the 

 queen or by covering the entrance of the hive with perforated zinc so 

 that it is not necessary to depend on chance to bring about what we are 

 now to observe. 



If a queen remains unmated for a period of three weeks she is 

 incapable of mating and loses all desire to leave the hive to meet a drone. 

 After that time she may begin to lay eggs, but, strangely enough, these 

 eggs produce nothing but drones and the queen is then what is known as 

 a "drone layer." Obviously then, drones are produced from eggs which 

 have not been fertilized. Not all unmated queens become drone layers; 

 in fact, many queens die if not mated, and many others never lay at all; 

 but if any eggs are laid they produce only drones. From my own experi- 

 ence in trying to bring about this condition I can say that the person 

 wishing to verify the statements made concerning this strange phenome- 

 non should start several virgin queens in hives and possibly one or 

 two will lay. 



This introduces us to one of the most remarkable phenomena which 

 Is known to occur in nature, but it is not characteristic of bees alone. 

 In the vast majority of cases in the animal kingdom eggs disintegrate 

 unless fertilized by spermatozoa of the same species. Just why fertiliza- 

 tion is necessary is still a disputed point among scientists; but we know 

 that it is necessary in most cases. To the development of egg without 

 the usual fertilization the name "Parthenogenesis" is applied. 



The parthenogentic development of drones was first completely 

 described by Johannes Dzierzon, a priest of Karlsmarkt, Germany, and 

 a beekeeper of long experience. It has since been verified by many 

 workers on the subject. As the eggs pass down the oviduct on their way 

 from the ovaries of the queen they pass the opening of the spermatheca, 

 and if the egg is to become a female it receives from this spermatheca 

 one, and only one, spermatozoon; if it is to become a drone it receives no 

 spermatozoon, and consequently remains unfertilized, as do all the eggs 

 of a drone layer. A normally mated queen rarely lays a drone egg in a 

 worker cell, or vice versa, provided both kinds of cells are present, and 

 consequently we are forced to the conclusion, as much as we dislike to 

 admit it, that the queen in some way can control the laying of eggs of 

 different sex, but how this is done is a mystery. I say we dislike to 

 admit this because it is entirely beyond our comprehension and as stated 

 in the earlier part of this talk, one of the difficulties in recording observa- 

 tion is the giving of reasons for things observed. 



Another fact which supports the theory of parthenogenesis is that 

 workers in a colony which is hopelessly queenless will often begin to lay 



