THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



145 



It is, therefore, evident that the (rreater por- 

 tion of tins substiincL' is an animal secretion and 

 being mixed with guMric juice and pepsin is not 

 only capable of withstanding dcssicalion, but 

 during its exposition in tlie open cell for several 

 days is capable also of progressing in fermenta- 

 tion, till when the cell is sealing it has ^ittnincMl 

 Its utmost disintegration of particles and liii.s 

 thus become a substance of imnuHliatc assimila- 

 tion, and therefore is nothing less than albun^no- 

 libriue peptone. 



That this is the plastic material found in nor- 

 mal royal cells, I infer from the tacts- 1st. Cer- 

 tain fatty matter is discoveral)le in it which, al- 

 though certainly not digested in the stomach of 

 the worker, subserves an undetinable purpose in 

 the composition of this royal peptone; and that, 

 3d A minute quantity of sugar is discoverable 

 in it which transforming from starch or pollon, 

 and having as yet not liad time to comi^letely 

 change into lactic acid, imparts, no doubt, to 

 this royivl food its pungent flavor. 



From the presence of the above mentioned 

 fatty matter found in this royal peptone, I more- 

 over infer that worker eggs pla.y an important 

 role in it, for it is well known that the yolk of 

 egg contains not only oil in considerable cpian- 

 tity, but also spermatozoids. I believe, there- 

 lore, that when the egg from which a queeu is 

 to be produced is placed into the royal cell, the 

 workers dose the incipient queen expectant ab 

 initio^ with worker eggs, prepared by them by 

 simple insalivatiou, and thus not only furnish it 

 with its appropriate pabulum, but also impreg- 

 nate this egg, or larva upon its immediate exclo- 

 sure from this egg, with the spermatozoids pre- 

 sent in these worker eggs. 



The queen-producing materials in the royal 

 cell are in the beginning tasteless, and so is the 

 white of an egg. A short period afterward these 

 materials acquire a slightly perceptil)le acsscency 

 w^hich increases with the corresponding develop- 

 ment of the queen; and this decidedly agrees 

 with the view above entertained that, in the in- 

 ceptive formation of the queeu, worker eggs and 

 spermatozoids constitute its impregnating pabu- 

 lum, whilst at a later period albumino-filjriue 

 peptone, or assimilable tissue forming paste, is 

 used. And here I stand face to face with Dzier- 

 zon, without however denying parthenogenesis, 

 as I explain it: 



"That when the eggs have once been laid, as 

 Dzierzon asserts, the sex of the bee to be hatched 

 from it is alreadj^ unalterably fixed therein, and 

 that neither cell nor food can subsequently exert 

 any influence on it in this respect," is in fact 

 no fact at all, and I think it is much easier to 

 disprove this proposition than he imagined when 

 he wrote his refutation to Dr. Landois' untena- 

 ble theory. How docs it happen, sir, that there 

 has never yet been raised a perfect queen from 

 eggs singly introduced into a colony or nucleus, 

 with the especial intention of rearing a queen 

 therefrom, Avhen no worker eggs, although all 

 otiier requisites, were present in such colony or 

 nucleus? I mav admit that a crippled queen 

 might be produced from the egg so introduced, 

 but deny in ioio that she will ever lay any eggs 

 at all. As positively do I denj- that there was 

 ever a drone egg laying queen that was not di» 



I rectly reared from the egg, ab initio as such, i. e., 

 ■ a (lueen that failed to mate with the drone, pos- 

 sessing the lower potency of fertility, as Dzier- 

 I zon would express tlic idea. And how does 

 j Mr. Dzierzon account for facts like theseV 

 i Is some one ready here to tell me I take sides 

 ; with Dr. Landois, and believe Aviiii him that 

 sexual development depends solely and exclu- 

 sively on nutriment? 1 repl}% no, sir. not in the 

 h'ast, for I am as well aware of the fact tliat 

 there is no ditferencein the food administered to 

 ! drones and workers, as I am confident tiiere is 

 [ between tlie food of these and the royal peptone 

 j with its aliquot jjortion of worker eggs contain- 

 j ing spermatozoids. 



I Nor do T believe it is committing the unpar- 

 I donable sin to dissent Irom an unproved asser- 

 tions of Rev. Dzierzon, Rev. Kleinc;, Baron von 

 J Berlepsch, or any other honest, scientific, and 

 I practical apiarian observer, European or Amer- 

 ican. 



Now, Mr. Editor, it is either true that the sex 

 of the bee is already unalterably determined 

 when laid, or it is not. If true, the allegation 

 of Dr. Donhoff having reared in the summer of 

 1855 a worker larva from a drone egg artificially 

 impregnated falls to the ground unheeded. On 

 the contrary if it be not true that the sex of tlie 

 bee is thus unalterably deternuned when laid, 

 then it follows that Dr. I)onhoff"s allegation 

 amounts to a truth, and Dzierzon's assertion 

 amounts to nothing more than an unguarded 

 statement, which needs further proof before it is 

 entitled to credit. 



If Dr. Donhoff by artificial impregnation has 

 succeeded in rearing a worker larva from a drone 

 egg, then my allegation that the ' workers by 

 means of royal peptone with its aliquot portion 

 ofw^orker eggs containing spermatozoids, can 

 effect additional impregnation upon the impreg- 

 nated egg in the royal cell, also becomes a self- 

 evident truth, and my theory stands thus: 



1 St. Drones are the offspring of a queen reared 

 from the egg as such, and possessing the lower 

 potency of fertility by having been impregnated 

 in lier cell by worker eggs containing sperma- 

 tozoids. 



2d. Workers are the offspring of a queen which 

 in addition to the lower potency of fertility, met 

 the drone and thus became endowed with the 

 higher potency of fertility also. 



3d. Queens are the offspring of queens posses- 

 sing both the lower and Higher potency of fer- 

 tility, but being fed by the %vorkers and impreg- 

 nated as above explained, become queens instead 

 of workers, the latter being fed for five or six 

 days upon worker food and thenceforward upon 

 honey and pollen, whilst queens are fed upon 

 roj^al peptone. 



That the bees in the instance of rearing their 

 queens, at least understand their business as 

 well as their keeper; tiiat thc_y remove eggs from 

 worker cells; and that Rev. Dzierzon has never 

 seen fit to disprove these fiicts, cannot be con- 

 scientiously denied by an}' apiarian who is not 

 prejudiced in favor of iiarthenogcnesis as hitherto 

 explained; nor will I deny, on my part, that He 

 wl'.o could unlock Uio jaws of Balaam's ass of 

 old, and cause him to talk Hebrew, could con- 

 stitute tho q^een tuat she might lay ynimpreg- 



