270 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIE^W 



solved ; have at least been studied as 

 far as it is possible, with our present 

 means of investigation. 



VIRILITY OF VIRGIN DRONES. 



The first that comes to my mind is 

 whether the drones from virgin queens, 

 or laying workers, are able to fertilize 

 queens or not. Leuckart affirms that 

 some of his queens w£rt thus mated, 

 since at that time no other drones were 

 about. A few instances have been 

 quoted in the bee papers of queens fer- 

 tilized by drones from laying workers' 

 colonies early in the spring of the 

 year, before any normal colony had 

 drones. 



However, as the queens mate outside, 

 and, as the "personal identity" of the 

 drone could not be established even if 

 he were seen, it is possible that the 

 aforesaid queens may have mated with 

 drones from some where else, without 

 the knowledge of the apiculturist. So, 

 until we have some means to have the 

 queens mated in confinement, or in a 

 big tent, direct evidence will be want- 

 ing. 



But there is some circumstantial evi- 

 dence. In the first place, careful mi- 

 croscopical examinations repeatedly 

 made by different observers, have 

 shown that the drones from virgin 

 queens and laying workers are identi- 

 cal in every respect to those from a fer- 

 tilized queen, and possess a full com- 

 plement of fecundating germs, just as 

 well as those raised in a colony' having 

 a mated queen. 



In the second place, the manner in 

 which the queen is fertilized, and the 

 eggs receive that fertilization, f^how 

 that the drone eggs have nothing what- 

 ever to do with the fertilization of their 

 mother. 



When a queen is fecundated, the fertil- 

 izing germs of the drones (spermatozoa) 

 are thrown into an organ similar to a 

 pouch or a sack situated in the body of 

 the queen near its end. That sack has 

 no communication with any other 

 organ of the queen that we can see. 



except the opening b}' which the 

 spermatozoa went in, and by which 

 they come out, one by one to fertilize 

 the eggs. 



The eggs are found higher in the 

 body, in two organs called the ovaries. 

 They come down through a tube, pass 

 before the sack containing the sper- 

 matozoa, and from there to the outside 

 of the queen's body. If, when they 

 pass before the sack they receive a 

 spermatozoon, they become female eggs 

 and produce either queens or workers. 

 If they don't receive any they produce 

 drones. 



Such being the case, and the ovaries 

 having no connection whatsoever with 

 the sack containing the spermatozoa, it 

 is clear that the eggs produced in the 

 ovaries are perfect drone eggs, and 

 that the introduction of the spermato- 

 zoa in them, transforms them into 

 female eggs. It is clear, also, that 

 since they are produced as well when 

 spermatozoa are present as when not, 

 they ought to be as perfect in one case 

 as in the other, since the spermatozoa 

 shut up in the sack (that sack is called 

 the spermatheca) have no connection 

 with the ovaries. 



DRONE PROGENY. 



What I mean by that is the question 

 often raised whether the drones pro- 

 duced by a queen are influenced by the 

 drone that fecundated that queen, or 

 in other words, do they possess any of 

 the characteristics of that drone. 



Considering the manner in which the 

 eggs are produced, I should say no. 

 What influence could the spermatozoa 

 shut up in a sack have on the ovaries 

 situated away from the sack ? 



Right here some smart Alec will un- 

 doubtedly say that they might, though 

 we don't see how. That may be true, 

 but before we admit it, we must have 

 some proof of it. We could as well 

 say that the phases of the moon might 

 have an influence on them, though we 

 don't see how. 



