108 



THE AMERICAN APICULTUBIST. 



might have become such, if in their 

 first appearance as pupae the}^ had 

 had another larger cell and other 

 proper nourishment. ^ 



Rodheim, Germany, July 25, 1783. 

 (To he continued.) 



EDITORIAL. 

 Great reforms are not brought 

 to completion in a moment and 

 after the interests of apiculture 

 have been left for so many years to 

 the tender mercy of our largest 

 supply dealers, it is not strange 



2 This is indeed a strange discovery in nat- 

 ural science, and might be called monstrous 

 if it were not proved to a certainty by fre- 

 quent experience. It seems to conflict witli 

 tlie exterior and interior organization (of the 

 members) of tlie bee; but there tiave been dis- 

 covered within a few years such strange 

 things, as our reason cannot explain, but 

 which are proved by experience, and the nat- 

 uralists begin to be used to such paradoxes. 

 The mo)-ewe study nature, the more we shall 

 find that her supposed laws, which Ave consid- 

 ered as absolute, admit of many exceptions. 



It is iniieed a principle of natural science, 

 and has been proved by perfectly conclusive 

 experiments, that no living animals can ever is- 

 sue from absolntelj' inorganic matter; but to 

 create, and to develop only parts, aie two dif- 

 ferent things. The hitter is possible, and 

 happens often enough. Let us liear the in- 

 comparable naturalist. Bonnet, about it. He 

 has proved, from sufficient reasons, in his In- 

 sectology that the semen or brood-chyle is as 

 well a real nourishment, as an irritating, 

 stimulating chyle or juice. He has shown 

 that it can produce tlie greatest changes in 

 the inner organization of the eml)ryo. Conse- 

 quently, it cloes not seem possible, that, by a 

 certain and more abundant nourishment, 

 parts may be developeil in the bee pupte, 

 which, witlioutthis nourishment, would never 

 have been developed. Tliere are many other 

 instances in nature, which confirm tliis truth. 

 To see tliis, it is not necessary to enter tlie 

 laboratory of an observer of polypes ; it is suf- 

 ficient to remember the strange fact, that the 

 cock's-spur can be grafted on the cock's-comb, 

 an operation worlliy of the most sliilful and 

 experienced naturalist. 



When this spur is grafted upon the double 

 wrinkle whei-e the comb was cut ofl", it is not 

 much larger than a grain of linseed ; but now 

 it strikes root and grows half an inch within 

 six months. After four years it becomes a 

 horn, three to four indies long, a real horn 

 like tlie horn of an ox, and has a bonelike 

 kernel or nucleus like the latter. It is con- 

 nected with, and incorporated in, tlic liead of 

 a ligamentum cajisulare. and liy stiiiigiit lig- 

 aments. But according to all probability, tlie 

 germs of these ligaments must have been pre- 

 existing, although not discernible, in the spur 

 and the comb, and their tendencies were dif- 

 ferent from those which they accepted after 

 the grafting; for the head of the cock is a very 

 different soil for the spur, than the one where 

 the latter was to grow and become fit for its 

 purpose. It is well known, what changes the 

 chyles or juices may produce according to 

 tlieir properties, tlieir abundance or defi- 

 ciency, and that the least injury to tender 

 fibres often affects the whole subsequent de- 

 velopment and growth, and may change 

 shape, portion, and solidity. And thus the 

 horny substance of the spur, when it consoli- 

 dates with the fleshy substance of the comb, 

 may produce new changes. 



We may therefore well believe, that the 

 stronger and more abundant jelly food is for 

 the organs and members of the future (arti- 

 ficial) queen, a kind of impregnation and fer- 

 tilizing, which is fit for these species of insects, 

 and just as efiflcient as the one by which the 

 insect itself is developed. 



Concerning the larger space which the 

 queen has in her cell, the drones give us an 

 important liint; for those which, from the lack 

 of their proper and peculiar cells, are bred 

 in cells for common workers, and are called 

 Ininched-backed or hunched Ijrood, are con- 

 siderably smaller than those which are bred 

 in their own proper cells one-third larger 

 than the cells of workers; for the body of the 

 pupa being cramped in those cells, is pre- 

 vented from attaining its full growth. 



That the queen has a shorter trunk than the 

 common bees, but just as long wings, and no 

 spoons or cavities on their hind legs, does 

 not weaken our conclusions. All these difler- 

 ences may be caused by the quantity or qual- 

 ity of the nourishment of the pupa. The above 

 mentioned organs retain always their simi- 

 larity to those of the common bees, and they 

 are indeed unchangeable for the very reason 

 that those difl'erences are produced by acci- 

 dental causes, — causes which must neces- 

 sarilj' produce the same effects every time, 

 since the Creator conceived them in his plan, 

 when he created the bees, and we must like- 

 wise leave it to his wisdom, how he has given 

 an audible voice to the queens, but not to the 

 other bees. 



Besides, as for the possibility that the sex- 

 ual organs and ovaria of the common bees, 

 may be— so to say — extinguished, there 

 are similar instances with other insects. The 

 abbot, Boissier de Sauvage, a great natura- 

 list, reports of the silk worms, that he dis- 

 sected them at the time when they eat most, 

 and it is easiest to observe their bowels; that 

 he found in every one an ovarium, and conse- 

 quently only female and no mnle worms. But 

 if there is a lemale ovarium in every silk- 

 worm without exception, it is clear that it has 

 shrunk away or dried up in the male butter- 

 flies, that is, in those pupje which, by some 

 unknown circumstances are destined more 

 for one sex than for the other. If we should 

 find in dissected bee-pupae usually only one 

 and the same ovarium, or only one gianulary 

 fibre with little knots, we should be entitled to 

 draw the same conclusions (concerning the 

 bees, which abbot Bossier has drawn con- 

 cerning the male and female butterflies, and 

 to claim that the ovarium dries up in the 

 worker bees, i. e., in those bees, which by 

 some certain unknown circumstances, were 

 marked or destined more for the one than for 

 the other sake, which have been bred in nar- 

 rower cells, and which, on account of their 

 position and sm.iller quantity of nourishment, 

 could not extend thi'ir parts" nor develop cer- 

 tain organs in the likewise, as those in larger, 

 royal cells are enabled to do. 



