THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. 27 



The comb area is small enough in this hive for the queen to be very 

 quickly found, and, unless too many bees are put in, this part of the 

 manipulation is very simple. The original cost of the hive is consid- 

 erably more than that of the smallest sized nuclei, but the bodv is 

 much more durable, and the cost as compared with that of the full- 

 sized hive, which some breeders use, is small. This mating box was 

 designed by Mr. Frank Benton, of the Bureau of Entomolog3\ It is 

 not intended that the inference shall be made that this nucleus box is 

 the best in use. It is described merel}^ as a guide to queen rearers, 

 and any other st3^1e of box which combines the good features of this 

 one will do equally well. 



No one can den}' that queens may be mated in hives smaller than a 

 full colony, but a question sometimes arises as to whether the queens 

 are as vigorous and prolific after being mated from small boxes. To 

 this, it may be answered that the successful mating of a queen depends 

 on the drones which fly in the air; and this is in no way influenced by 

 the size of the hive. It takes very few workers to feed a queen — wit- 

 ness the mailing boxes — and this is the only function of the accompa- 

 nying bees. If then a queen is herself strong and vigorous, and meets 

 an equally vigorous drone, she will be successfully mated, will be just 

 as prolific, and will lay just as long, when kept in a small colony to 

 mate as in a full-sized one. From a practical standpoint it may be 

 answered that queens mated in small nuclei when put to the test have 

 actually proven as good as those mated under other circumstances. 

 This is after all the true test to be used. 



PHENOMENA IN MATING. 



In from five to ten da3\s after the emerging of the 3'oung queen 

 from the queen cell, she leaves the colon}' for her mating flight. The 

 first flights of a queen from the hive are very short, and, like young 

 workers, she flies in circles near the entrance, as if fixing the location. 

 Several such flights may be taken before she really takes a long one. 

 Finally, however, she leaves the entrance and flies in ever-increasing 

 circles upward, and, if there are drones in the apiary or near by, she 

 is usually mated. The height to which she flies and the distance from 

 the hive at which she meets the drone depend entirely on circum- 

 stances; it may be near at hand or even a couple of miles awa3\ This 

 is a matter very difficult of observation, naturally, but the mating has 

 often been observed by chance. It is a very simple matter to see the 

 first circles of the virgin on leaving the hive entrance, and if drones 

 are plentiful it is not hard to see that many of them start after her. 

 Anyone can verify so much; the rest depends on chance observations. 



From dissections of virgins and fertile queens, it has been found 

 that, in mating, the spermatheca or seminal receptacle is filled with 

 spermatozoa or male sex cells. The spermatheca is a very minute sac 



