128 THE BEE-KEBPER'S GUIDE; 



alert for insect game — is most wise and provident. Nature is 

 never " penny wise and pound foolish." In our apiaries the 

 need is wanting, and the condition, as it exists in nature, is 

 not enforced. Again, close impregnation or in-breeding, 

 which is not conducive to animal vigor, is thus prevented, 

 where otherwise it would be necessary and always the practice. 

 The fact that parthenogenesis prevails in the production 

 of drones, has led to the theory that from a pure queen, how- 

 ever mated, must ever come a pure drone. My own experience 

 and observation, which have been very extended, and under 

 circumstances most favorable for a correct judgment, have 

 fully and completely confirmed this theory. Yet, if telegony 

 or the impure mating of our cows, horses, and fowls renders 

 the females of mixed blood ever afterward, as is believed and 

 taught by many who would seem most competent to judge- 

 though I must say I am very skeptical in the matter — then we 

 must look closely as to our bees, for certainly, if a mammal, 

 and especially if a fowl, is tainted by impure mating, then we 

 may expect the same of insects. In fowls such influence, if it 

 exist, must come simply from the presence in the female 

 generative organs of the sperm-cells, or spermatozoa, and in 

 mammals, too, there is little more than this, for though they 

 are viviporous, so that the union and contact of the offspring 

 and mother seem very intimate during the fetal development, 

 yet there is no intermingling of blood, for a membrane ever 

 separates that of the mother from that of the fetus, and only 

 the nutritious and waste elements pass from one to the other. 

 To claim that the mother is tainted through the circulation, is 

 like claiming that the same result would follow her inhaling 

 the breath of her progeny after birth. If such taint be pro- 

 duced, it probably comes through the power of a cell to change 

 those cells contiguous to it. That cells have such power is 

 proved every day in case of wounds, and the spread of any 

 disease. I can only say that I believe this whole matter is 

 still involved in doubt, and still needs more careful, scientific 

 and prolonged observation. I have tried very extensive experi- 

 ments with both chickens and bees, and all the evidence was 

 against telegony. My brown Leghorn hens ran with light 

 Brahma roosters all winter, then were removed for three 



