1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



239 



make one skeptical. I can not but feel the 

 same way regarding- Mr. Head's report in 

 Gleanings. 



As is well known, many poultry-men and 

 apiarists argue that the law of teleg^ony is 

 as true of birds and bees as of mammals. I 

 have long doubted its truth with poultry, or 

 our pets of the hive. Telegony was at first 

 explained as blood taint in the case of 

 mammals; but there is no intermixture of 

 the blood of the mother and the embryo. An 

 extensive membrane in the placenta sepa- 

 rates entirely the blood of mother and foe- 

 tus. Blood taint is obviously impossible. 

 The nerves were next appealed to to ex- 

 plain this phenomenon. This, however, is 

 vain, as the nerves of mother and ofi^spring 

 are entirely separate. Dr. Miles called in 

 cell inoculation to explain telegfony. We 

 all know how inflammation spreads in the 

 case of wounds. The explanation is evi- 

 dent. Poison, or possibly microbes, pass 

 from the injured to the uninjured cells, and, 

 with the spread of the cause of the disease, 

 the disease spreads. In telegony there is 

 no virus, and so there could be no inocula- 

 tion. Herbert Spencer suggests that " germ- 

 plasm" passes from the foetus to the moth- 

 er and becomes a part of her body, and 

 spreads to affect all the tissues, even the 

 reproductive org^ans. This is surely very 

 hypothetical. 



I was led to question the truth of telego- 

 ny, as the testimony' seemed as conclusive 

 with birds and bees as with mammals. Mr. 

 Spencer's germ-plasm could not affect in 

 these latter cases. With fowls, only the 

 sperm-cells are lodged, and that for a brief 

 space, in the oviduct of the hen. There is 

 no org-anic connection, and it is hard to see 

 how any influence could taint the hen. I 

 know it is claimed with some show of au- 

 thority that impure mating changes the 

 color of the eggshell. I can only say, very 

 interesting if true. If such a change oc- 

 curs, I believe reversion explains it. In 

 the case of bees the connection is a little 

 more obvious. Here millions of sperm-cells 

 are lodged for years in the spermatheca, or 

 sperm-sac, of the queen. There is, how- 

 ever, no difference in kind from the fowls — 

 the only difference is in time. The sperm- 

 cells are present in the reproductive appa- 

 ratus for years instead of days. 



So grave were my doubts that I experi- 

 mented at length to see if I might decide 

 the matter. My experiments with poultry 

 were made with Light Brahmas and Brown 

 Leghorns. These birds are different in 

 limb, feather, form, habit, and color of egg. 

 The fowls all ran together through the 

 winter, mating promiscuously. In early 

 spring I separated the birds, putting all 

 the Leghorns, male and female, in one pen 

 and the Brahmas in another. After three 

 weeks I commenced to incubate the eggs, 

 and raised over 200 chickens. There was 

 not the least show of taint in either breed. 

 We all know how persistent the feathers on 

 the legs are with any show of Brahma 

 blood. M3- Leghorns had legs that were 



entirelj'^ clean. At the close of these exper- 

 iments I was more skeptical than ever as 

 to the truth of telegony in birds. Noted 

 breeders of lOng experience in our country 

 make similar reports. 



I next experimented with bees. I pro- 

 cured a queen all the way from Syria. I 

 introduced her in my apiary where there 

 were only Italians. I at once reared sever- 

 al queens from her which must have been 

 mated exclusively with Italian drones, as 

 there were no Syrian drones within hundreds 

 of miles. As is well known, drones hatch 

 from uuimpregnated eggs. Here, then, if 

 the drones from these queens should show 

 any Italian taint, we should have positive 

 proof of telegony in bees. The eggs, not 

 being impregnated, can produce only drones 

 that have the characteristics of the mother. 

 If impure, then surely the mother must be 

 affected. In this case we have examples, 

 not by the tens nor the hundreds, but by the 

 thousands. I examined these drones very 

 carefull}', as did my students and many 

 others. Every drone was decidedly Syri- 

 an, and had not the sligtest mark of an 

 Italian. Have we not, then, good reason to 

 doubt the truth of telegony in bees? 



I have known several cases among mam- 

 mals where telegony might be put in evi- 

 dence if true; yet in every case the evidence 

 was absent. I know this is only negative 

 testimony. I went to the Chicago exhibi- 

 tion during the time that mules were being 

 exhibited. I talked with , many extensive 

 breeders, and not one believed in telegony. 

 They all said that they had had no evi- 

 dence of its truth. 



As stated at the beginning of this article, 

 this is a matter of no little importance to 

 the breeder. If telegony be true, then ac- 

 cidental cross-mating with any female for 

 ever taints her blood. I am so firm in the 

 belief that it is not true that I would not 

 pay one nickel less for a shorthorn or Jer- 

 sey because, at some time in the past, she 

 had been impurely mated. 



Claremont, Cal., Feb., 1902. 



EXPLOSIVE COMPARISONS, 



Breeding from Freaks ; Dr. Miller and Mr. Doolit. 



tie Put on the Witness Stand ; Difficulties in 



Improving Stock. 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



[The following article was written for our Jan. 1st 

 issue, but owing to the large amount of matter on 

 hand we were not able to get to it till now. — Ed.] 



Just what the editor was trying to do when 

 he compiled the copy for the issue of Dec. 15 

 is a conundrum. He at least succeeded in 

 gathering together a most excellent lot of 

 explosives if properly combined. Let me 

 see if I can make the combination. P. 972 

 Dr. Miller says: "F. B. Simpson, in the 

 Revieiv, stands sponsor himself for the idea 

 that freak-best queens should not be select- 

 ed to breed from, and tells me to come on 

 with my brickbats. Well, here comes one. 



