THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



95 



and then describe the new experi- 

 ments by which I think I have 

 solved the problem. 



Swammerdam, who studied bees 

 with unremitting attention, and 

 who could never see the real union 

 of a drone and a queen, was satis- 

 fied of its being unnecessary for 

 fecundation of the eggs ; but hav- 

 ing remarked that at certain times, 

 the drones exhaled a very strong 

 odor, he thought it an emanation 

 which operated fecundation by pen- 

 etrating the body of the female. 

 His conjecture was confirmed on 

 dissecting the male sexual organs, 

 for he was so much struck with the 

 disproportion between them and 

 those of the female that he did not 

 believe their union possible. 



Besides, his opinion concerning 

 the influence of the odor was plaus- 

 ible, from affording a good reason 

 for the prodigious number of males. 



There are frequently fifteen hun- 

 dred, or two thousand in a hive, ' 

 and according to Swammerdam, it 

 is necessary' they should be numer- 

 ous that the emanation proceeding 

 from them may have an intensity 

 or energ}' sufficient to effect im- 

 pregnation. 



Though M. de Reaumur has 

 refuted this hypothesis by just and 

 conclusive reasoning he has failed 

 to make the sole experiment that 

 could support or overturn it, which 

 was confining all the drones of a 

 hive in a tin case, perforated with 

 minute apertures that might allow 

 the emanation of the odor to es- 

 cape, but prevent transmission of 

 their organs. The case should 

 have been then placed in a hive 

 well peopled, but completely de- 

 prived of males, both of large and 

 small size and the consequences 

 observed. 



It is evident, had the queen laid 

 eggs after matters were thus dis- 

 posed, that Swammerdam's hy- 

 pothesis would have acquired 

 probability ; and on the contrary 



it would have been confuted had 

 she produced no eggs, or only 

 sterile ones. However, the ex- 

 periment has been made by us, 

 and the female remained barren ; 

 therefore it is undoubted, that the 

 emanation of the odor of the 

 males does not impregnate queens. 



M. de Reaumur was of a differ- 

 ent opinion. He thought that 

 the queen's fecundation followed 

 actual union. Having confined 

 several drones in a glass vessel 

 along with a virgin queen, he saw 

 the females make many advances 

 to the males ; but unable to observe 

 anything so intimate that it could 

 be denominated their union, he 

 leaves the question undecided. 



We have repeated this experi- 

 ment also : we have frequently 

 confined virgin queens with drones 

 of all ages ; we have done so at 

 every season, and witnessed all 

 their advances and solicitations 

 towards the males ; we have even 

 believed that we saw a kind of un- 

 ion between them, but so short and 

 imperfect that it was unlikely to 

 eflect impregnation. Yet to neg- 

 lect nothing, we confined to her 

 hive a virgin queen that had suf- 

 fered the approach of the male. 



During a month that her impris- 

 onment continued, she did not lay 

 a single egg, therefore these mo- 

 mentary functions do not accom- 

 plish fecundation. 



In the " Contemplation de la 

 Nature," you have cited the ob- 

 servations of the English natural- 

 ist, Mr. Debraw, which, from their 

 apparent accurac}', seemed at last 

 to elucidate the mystery. Favored 

 b)'^ chance, an observer, one day, 

 perceived at the bottom of cells 

 containing eggs, a matter appar- 

 ently prolific, at least very differ- 

 ent from the substance or jelly 

 which bees commonly collect 

 around their newly hatched worms. 



\_To he continued.'] 



