18S2 



GLEAKINGS IK BEE CULTUKE. 



389 



part or nucleus. During the swarminff sea- 

 son, I would give them the brood without 

 any honey, if I could readily tind a comb of 

 such. The new honey often seems to awak- 

 en the swarming-out mania anew. Some 

 frames of fdn. that the queen has just laid in 

 long enough to have a few of the eggs hatch- 

 ed, and no honey, is just about what you 

 want. If they do swarm out after being so 

 divided, you will lose only the part that con- 

 tains the queen. Un the same principle, 

 taking away their queen and giving them 

 unsealed brood will be almost a sure pre- 

 ventive against swarming out. 



POAVElt OF THE WORKER-BEES TO 

 OHANOE THE SEX OF WORKER- 

 EGGS. 



A SODND REPROOF FROM FRIEND TETBRS, FOR OUR 

 BOLDNESS AND PRESUMPTinN. 



EN j-our June issue, on pngc 2111, commcntinf? on 

 "The Queen Determines the Sex of Her Ova," 

 you say, "It seems to me the bees have, after 

 all, the power of making- worker eggs produce 

 drones when they wish, as the recent facts brought 

 to light seem to show." 



What facts, I ask, sustain such a wild and vision- 

 ary theory? The opinions deduced from observa- 

 tions by all tifo apiculturists with whom I am famiU 

 iar, when scrutinized, go to establish the very re- 

 verse idea you desire to inculcate. Even in the 

 June number, on page 200, Mr. Morgan says he hud 

 drone brood reared in worker-cells. Of course, he 

 may, and vice versa, if he is a close observer, and 

 from that fact he assumes that " the eggs would 

 have produced workers if thecomb had been left in 

 the hive from which I [he] took it.'" To show the 

 fallacy of such a conclusion, I need only refer to the 

 fact of many apicultui-ists tilling whole hives with 

 worker foundation alone, and yet the instinct of the 

 queen to produce both workers and drones is such 

 that, in every case, without exception, more or less 

 drone brood is reared in colonies having a fully ma- 

 tured queen. Young queens do not generally de- 

 posit drone ova until the colony Is made strong and 

 vigorous with workers. In order to make room for 

 drone brood in worker-cells, these latter are elongat- 

 ed bej'ond the level of the worker brood, and hence 

 sometimes they protrude so as to slightly resemble 

 queen-cells, but there is always a line of demarca- 

 tion between the drone brood and the adjacent 

 worker brood, and thus his 25 drone-cells exemplify 

 only what may be seen in any healthy colony during 

 any season suitable for rearing brood. I don't sup- 

 pose there is a colony of bees in existence in a nor- 

 mal condition with all worker comli in every frame 

 that has not more or less drone brood in it. 



Now, friend Hoot, what became of your powers of 

 recollection when j'ou wrote that item quoted 

 above? Most assuredly, you knew a drone-laying 

 queen could not propagate a brood of workers. You 

 also knew, that in such hives the bees always vainly 

 endeavor to rear queens from drone-eggs. That 

 abortive effort, however, has a good-looking queen- 

 cell, but the inmate is male. You can no doubt call 

 to mind a thousand such Instances. You say the 

 food manipulated by the Viees constitutes the great 

 factor of sex. If it were possible for bees to change 

 the female ova into male larAsr by compounding 



food, why not, by the same process,— presto change! 

 —the male ova into worker-nymphs? Now, you 

 know there is drone ova, as proven by the progeny 

 of an unfertile queen, yet you have admitted there 

 were none but female ova, if I correctly understand 

 you. Oh! I imagine you say, those ova are from an 

 unfertile queen, which makes a different case alto- 

 gether. But the stubborn fact stares us in the face, 

 that queen deposited male ova only, and one posi- 

 tive fact can not be dethroned by a thousand nega- 

 tives, we are told. The drone brood is developed in 

 spite of the many efforts to rear (jueens by the bees 

 from them. The worker nurse-bees have nothing 

 to do with the sex of the future individual— feeding 

 and nursing is their office. The ova will develop 

 that sex in which they were cast by nature. 



It was said of Lord Bacon, or Lord Somebody else, 

 a man of rare genius, that occasionally, during his 

 greatest efforts, there wou'd occur a momentary 

 suspension of mental phenomena — an ellipsis — 

 gap, as it were; the faculties of the mind seemed to 

 slumber an instant, then he would resume the 

 thread of his discourse without ever being con- 

 scious of that skip in his mental existence. May 

 not this tangent off from your stock of better knowl- 

 edge have resulted from such an ellipsis or suspen- 

 sion of mental action, and forced you to skip over 

 your former better and sounder views, similar to 

 the mental inertia of the noble lord? 



Geo. B. Peters. 



Council Bend, Ark., June 13, 1882. 



I forgive you, friend Peters, even for your 

 doubtful compliment of likening me to that 

 great Lflrd Somebody ; but instead of taking 

 space for a reply, I would simply ask you 

 and others to get a comb of nice worker 

 brood, and cut out pieces for queenless colo- 

 nies. Insert them exactly as you insert 

 brood for queen-rearing, and see if you do 

 not find drones from some of the cells. If 

 you do, go and see if you hud any drones in 

 the original comb the brood came outof. J^et 

 others try the same experiment, and if it 

 transpires we have nothing to talk about, 

 we won't talk. Meanwhile, let us have as 

 many facts as can be brought forward. I 

 did not intend to adduce the facts you gave, 

 friend P., to prove the point. You only 

 showed that the queen could adapt herself to 

 drone comb, and that only, when there was 

 not worker comb to be had. 



< AN THE BEES FROM A QUEENLESS 



HIVE STEAL. AN EGG FROM 



ANOTHER HIVE? 



SOME INTERESTING F.A.CTS IN THE MATTER. 



W)HAT do j'ou mean when you say, "Can I 

 prove that a bee stole an egg and raised a 

 queen"? Do you mean to ask if I can bring 

 witnesses to that effect? If so, I say no, not of any 

 account. I will give It in detail if it will interest 

 you. 



The swarm was queenless long l)efore February, 

 as there was no V.rood of any kind, to the best of my 

 knowledge; and about the middle of March I gave 

 them three frames of brood, in all stages; and of 

 course they went about raising a queen, which was 

 a failure, but which I think was my fault, from 

 opening the hive in too cold weather; however, 



