1Hj<. AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



m 



eggs from worker-cells, and place 

 them in drone-cells, we will get drones 

 as a result. Whether the bees by 

 blind instinct always extract the sperm 

 fluid or not from worker-eggs when 

 in drone-colls, I do not know; but one 

 of two things must be true — either 

 all og^< from a fertile queen must be 

 alike, or the worker-bees possess the 

 ability to change the eggs. Our good 

 friend, Prof. ( ook, says: 



" When the workers are able to ab- 

 stract the sperm-cells, which are so 

 small that we can only see them by 

 using a high power microscope" 

 (though he acknowledges, and so do J, 

 that sperm-cells cannot be discovered 

 in bee-eggs with any kind of micro- 

 scope). " then we may expect to see 

 wheat turn to chaff. 



That wheat will turn to chaff is 

 evident — a fact that I have seen dem- 

 onstrated — a change I can produce 

 myself; but this egg process is yet 

 wrapped in mystery. See Cook's 

 Manual, pages 81 and 74. 



DRONES MEETING A VIRGIN O.UEEN 



It was ray pleasure yesterday (Aug. 



1st) to witness a sight I have longed 

 to see for year: — thank Providence 

 for the privilege. 



About 1 o'clock p.m. a virgin 

 queen, urged strongly by the beer> to 

 go out o[ the hive of a nucleus colo- 

 ny, tried several times to fly but failed. 

 Then I caught her and tossed her up 

 into the air, and discovered that she 

 could not fly. 



Next I picked her up, and seeing 

 her run about on my left hand, carried 

 her to within about 10 feet of a queen 

 less colony that I had fed some honey 

 a few minutes before, and to my 

 astonishment, the drones came rush- 



ing about this queen on my hand like 

 mad hornets. One drone threw her 

 over on her side, but she was on her 

 feet in an instant. Several drones 

 gaVJ her each a tap and then left. 



In a short time the buzzing stopped, 



and the drones all went back to their 

 hive. But not one of these drones 

 left any of the sex-organs adhering to 

 the queen. I do not know that this 

 queen is pregnated. but I shall wat< h 

 her closely for the next two days to 

 see when she begins laying, and 

 whether she attempts to leave the hive 

 again. 



I have believed in the past that the 

 reason the bees from one queen vary 

 so much in color, is because the queen 

 on her wedding-tour meets and copu- 

 lates with different drone.- of various 

 stripes. Then my observation has. 

 been that only about one-fourth of the 

 queens that become fertilized carry 

 enough of the vital fluid with them, 

 received from the drones, to be v isible 

 to the naked eye at all. 



I have watched some virgin queens 

 very closely, have seen them come out 

 of the hive a- many as a half-dozen 

 times, then I have opened the hive 

 and scrutinized the queen closely, but 

 could see no trace of fertilization until 

 the next two days, then I would see 

 the abdomen begin to enlarge,, ami 

 know in this way that -he had met 

 some drones; for she would begin to 

 lay at the appointed time. 



Oue fact is now settled, namely, 

 that the queen attracts the drones, and 

 not the drones the queen. The many 

 are attracted toward the one, and not 

 the one toward the many. 



Another truth is, that the queen 

 must be "on the spree," or have the 



