The American ApiculturiJt 



A JOUUXAL FOU THK NOVICR AND EXPKKT. * 



Devoted to Best Races of Bees, Best Hives, Best Implements and Best 



Methods of Management to make Beekeeping a Success. 

 PUBLISHED MONTHLY. HENRVT ALLEY, Manager. 



t^ 



VOL. VI. 



WENHAM, MA8S., NOVEMBER, li 



No. 11. 



Stlcctttr. 



Reproduction in the honey-bee. 



IJy Pkof. Gko. U. Groff, M.D. 

 Lewisburg, Pa., Apiarist of the Board, 



To the naturalist the means by which 

 living beings reproduce iheir kind is al- 

 ways a subject of interest. Indeed, of all 

 the functions of life, that of reproduciiou 

 is the most interesting, the most wonder- 

 ful, and to each species, tlie most impor- 

 tant. Some forms of insects seem to ex- 

 ist in the mature state onl}' that they may 

 perpetuate their kind, and this being ac- 

 complislied, the}' i)erish; the males in 

 the act of fertilizing the females, the 

 female, at once, when the eggs are safely 

 deposited, neitlier parent ever seeing their 

 ofl">pring. In all the higher animals repro- 

 duction is accomplished througii the inter- 

 Acution of the two sexes, the male and 

 the female, but among many of the lower 

 forms of life both male and female are 

 frequently dispensed with. In some cases 

 the oflsprihg p:iss through so many and so 

 great tianslbrmations tliat it has been ex- 

 ceedingly difficult to trace the whole lile 

 liistorj' of these strange beings. In some 

 cases the germs of life are so small that 

 their origin cannot easily be discovered, 

 except with the most patient research. 

 This is true of the honey-bee. 



A knowledge of the modes of repi'o- 

 duction and of the laws governing the 

 same is always of value to the agiicultu- 

 ri>t and to the naturalist, because in the 

 case of the higher forms he may readily 

 improve his cattle, grains, tubers and fruits 

 by a carelul study of and conformity to 

 these laws, as is so well illustrated in the 

 great number of valuable varieties intro- 

 duced in- late years. And also in the case 

 of the lower forms of life, pests and all 

 kinds of animals and vegetable parasites, 

 if their habits, times and modes of repro- 

 duction be understood, we may olten. with 

 great ea.se, cut short the career of forms 

 which, undisturbed, would have cau.sed 

 great losses. The different modes of re- 



17 



production in the oi'ganic world may be 

 outlined as follows, viz. : 



Modes of Reproduction. 



, C Division, jfr"'T''- 

 Asexual: ) ( Discontinuous. 



/ Budding, ir;?"t'""°"«- 

 (_ " ( Discontinuous. 



„ 1 ... f Close fertilization. 



Hei'maphrodite : s ,^ ,„..m;,.,.^; 



^ ( Cross- lei tilizatiuu. 



{Oviparous, 

 Oyaviviparous, ^^ 1 



Viviparous. | pfacental. 



The minute animals called animalcules 

 which live in stagnant waters, in damp 

 places, and in the sea, many cases repro- 

 duce their kind in some asexual way, i. c, 

 without the intervention of the sexes. Of 

 these asexual methods there are two prin- 

 cipal ones. In the first, tlic l)ody of the 

 parent splits into two or more pieces, 

 which, by absorption of nutrition, rapidly 

 grow into perfect animals. Sometimes tlie 

 young remain attached to the parent germ, 

 and then we have '-continuous " division, 

 and the resultant is a " colony" as is true 

 of sponges, sea-mats and numerous other 

 marine forms. In otiier cases the young 

 are all set free from the parent organ- 

 isms. Budding ditfers from division in 

 that the young appear on the sides of 

 the body of the parents as small buds or 

 enlargements. They remain attached, 

 growing larger and larger, until tliey be- 

 come perfect animals in all their parts. 

 When development is completed the}-- 

 either remain attached to the parent or 

 else are set free to live indepemlent lives, 

 in the first case forming " colonies" as in 

 continuous division. Coral colonies are 

 formed in this way. In some of these 

 lowly asexual forms the young are entirely 

 unlike their parents, and at no period of 

 their lives resemble them. These beings 

 of the second generation bring forth 

 young, which return to the original type, 

 that is, resemble the grand parents. This 

 is called ''alternation of geinMation. " 

 Jelly tisli are such intermediate forms. 

 Nearly all the lowest plants, as nnjulds, 

 mildews, blights, etc., are asexual. 



(195) 



