OR, MANUAI, OF THS APIARY. 113 



would seem certain that they must have g-one more than one- 

 half mile. It has been reported by reliable persons that the 

 queens are out from ten minutes to two hours. Sometimes 

 queens will meet drones, as shown by the white thread tipping 

 the body, and yet not be impreg-nated. The spermatozoa did 

 not reach the spermatheca. In such cases, a second, and per- 

 haps a third, mating is required. Huber was the first to prove 

 that impregnation always takes place on the wing. Bonnet 

 also proved that the same is true of ants, though in this case 

 millions of queens and drones often swarm out at once. I 

 have myself witnessed several of these wholesale matrimonial 

 excursions among ants. I have also taken bumble-bees that 

 were copulating while on the wing. I have also seen both 

 ants and bumble-bees fall while united, probably borne down 

 by the expiring males. That butterflies, moths, dragon-flies, 

 etc., mate on the wing is a matter of common observation. It 

 has generally been thought impossible for queens in confine- 

 ment to be impregnated. Prof. Leuckart believes that suc- 

 cessful mating demands that the large air-sacs (Fig. 1,/) of 

 the drones shall be filled, which he thinks is only possible 

 during flight. The demeanor of the drones suggests that the 

 excitement of flight, like the warmth of the hand, is necessary 

 to induce the sexual impulse. 



Many others, with myself, have followed Huber in clip- 

 ping the virgin queen's wing, only to produce a sterile, or 

 drone-laying queen. One queen, however, whose wing was 

 clipped just as she came from the cell, and the entrance to 

 whose hive was guarded by perforated zinc so the queen could 

 not get out, was impregnated, and proved an excellent queen. 

 1 should doubt this if I could see any other way to explain it. 

 Yet, from a great number of experiments, I feel sure that 

 mating in confinement can never be made practical, even if 

 desirable. And if lycuckart is correct in the above sugges- 

 tion, which is very probable, it is not desirable. Some bee- 

 keepers claim to have mated queens by hand. I have tried 

 this thoroughly, as also mating in boxes, green-houses, etc., 

 and from entire lack of success I believe such mating is im- 

 possible, at least with most bee-keepers. J. S. Davitte, of 

 Georgia, claims to have mated many queens in a large circu- 



