ICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



AT TWO DOLLAKS PER ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



Vol. VII. 



SEP»TEM13EIi, IST^l. 



No. 3. 



[Prom the Bienenzietung.] 



Drone Production, and Honeydew. 



TRANSLATED FOR THE AMERICAN JOURNAL. 



The Baron of Berlepsch, when congratulating 

 me on my sixtieth birthday (for which I kindly 

 thank him and his amiable lady) avails himself 

 of the occasion to make some remarks on cer- 

 tain topics which were the subjects of conversa- 

 tion between Dr. Preuss and myself, when that 

 gentleman made me a friendly visit ; namely, 

 the production of drones and the formation of 

 honeydew. 



1. As regards the first point. In confirmation 

 of the truth that the drones owe their existence 

 exclusively to the queen, the Baron communi- 

 cates from his Seebach reminiscences the well- 

 ascertained fact that German or black queens, 

 though fertilized by a yellow or Italian drone, 

 and consequently producing mixed workers, 

 some being yellow and some black, nevertheless 

 produces black drones exclusively, whereas yel- 

 low or Italian queens occasionally produce black 

 drones also. This observed fact, however 

 (which I have often noticed myself), by no 

 means constrains us to assume that fertilization 

 exerts an influence on the production of drones, 

 and the contradiction of the now generally ac- 

 cepted theory, which it seemingly involves, is 

 by no means difiicult to exi>lain. 



Of the black or German queen bees existing 

 when the Italian race was introduced, it may 

 confidently be assumed that they were of the 

 pure German race, withoui the slightest inter- 

 mixture of Italian blood. But the case is other- 

 wise with the Italian bee, even in its native 

 coun ry. She is not there invariably found en- 

 tirely pure, for even in Virgil's day alreadj', the 

 dark colored race subsisted along side of the 

 golden or yellow, and so continues in close 

 juxtaposition to the present day. In the course 

 of time manifold intermixtures have taken place, 

 the prevention of which has become only in- 

 creasingly difficult, since her transplantation to 

 foreign soil. 



A queen may wear a golden yellow garb, yet 

 I cannot regard her as pure Italian, if her 

 mother was not also perfectly pure, and if from 

 among her brood, besides yellow young queens, 

 dark colored ones are also produced. It must 



therefore not be surprising when queens, pro- 

 ceeding from such brood, though themselves 

 never so bright and yellow, produce dark-colored 

 drones. In this very result, the fractional dash 

 of black blood inherent in such queens mani- 

 fests itself. Such queens, too, not entirely pure 

 from birth, occasionally produce truly golden 

 yellow drones. But these, also, I regard as sus- 

 picious, rejecting them, and giving the prefer- 

 ence to drones of less bright yet uniform color, 

 which proceed from queens unquestionably 

 pure. In selecting colonics for breeding, I have 

 regard not merely to the bright color of the 

 woi'kers, but likewise to their industry and 

 placable temperament ; two qualities for which 

 my Italians at least are pointedly distinguished 

 from native blacks. 



2. My remark to Dr. Preuss that I am not 

 infallible, the Baron contradicts in his congratu- 

 latory letter, and remarks : "You are really in- 

 fallible, for you propounded a theory of which 

 till now not an iota has been disproved. But, 

 in another matter I must controvert your opinion, 

 namely, as regards the formation of honeydew. 

 There is an aphis honeydew, and also a leaf 

 honeydew, as I had an opportunity to satisfy my- 

 self only last summer at Tambuchshof." With 

 an opponent who concedes at the outset that 

 honeydew oftimes originates from aphides, con- 

 troversy may well be waged ; but not so with 

 those, who reversing the facts, maintain that 

 the aphides do not produce the honeydew, but 

 that these make their appiearance only as a con- 

 sequence of its production, and as consumers of 

 it. With such we can have no controversy. He 

 who never saw, in the rays of the sun, the 

 si^ ray-like rain of honeydew gently falling from 

 the leafy boughs on which multitudes of aphides 

 are embowered, has in truth as yet observed but 

 little, and may be said to lack altogether tlie 

 faculty of observation. That which, as the 

 Baron of Berlepsch concedes, in many cases 

 originates from aphides discharghig certain un- 

 assimilable matters, others insist on regarding 

 as the mere tempting bait or rich repast pio- 

 vided for those and other insects. Meanwhile 

 we know that the aphides are congregated on 

 the c'nderside of the leaf, while the honeydew is 

 always found on the upper surface alone, upon 

 which if the aphides ventured, they would 

 quickly be glued fast, as if by bird-lime. 



