TOE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For t!ie American Bee Journal J 



Reproduction of Bees, &c. 



Referring to the somewhat incoherent theory 

 advanced in the February number of the Bee 

 Journal, page 144, permit me to submit my 

 humble opinion in regard to the procreation of 

 bees. 



1 believe, with Dzierzon, that all the eggs 

 contained in the ovaries of the queen are male 

 (drones), and that their eggs are changed to 

 female (workers) by their contact with the 

 drone sperm, and that alone suffices. The Su- 

 preme Orderer is the greatest economist of 

 means, and no one will find Him using two 

 ways, where one can suffice. 



The new theory assumes that in order to be- 

 come queens, J,he larva 1 need to eat some worker 

 egt'S ; and that the workers dose the incipient 

 queen with worker eggs, and thus impregnate 

 the larva, immediately on its disclosure from 

 the egg. with the spermatozoids present in those 

 eggs. Moreover, these two facts arc assumed, 

 as corollaries, namely, 1st — If worker larva; 

 have received some royal jelly, they become 

 capable of laying drone eggs ; and, 2nd — That 

 Dr. Donhoff has succeeded, by artificial impreg- 

 nation, in rearing a worker bee from a drone 



Let us examine these propositions. 



I had last season some black swarms. These 

 I deprived weekly of the drone comb they con- 

 structed, in order to prevent intermixture with 

 my Italian queens. At the same time these 

 swarms had to supply me with the workers re- 

 quired for my nuclei. They consequently re- 

 mained weak, and none of them had the least 

 disposition to build queen cells. Yet, each 

 time that my nuclei were made queenless, or 

 became simply broodless, even without hatching 

 cpieens, drone eggs were deposited by worker 

 bees. This continued from May to September. 

 Again, in July, I found one of these black 

 swarms without eggs or queen, but with drone 

 eggs in cpieen cells, desposited by a fertile work- 

 er. Whence, then, came the royal-jelly-par- 

 taking worker bees ? 



Now, let us turn to the second proposition. 

 After the bridal tour, the queen's seminal recep- 

 tacle is full. At the instant when the eggs 

 glide through the oviduct, it is either on the 

 Wagner or the Bickford theory, or some other 

 yet unknown, brought iu contact with the oii- 

 fice of the seminal receptacle, and one or more 

 spermatozoids slides on the egg. But how is 

 the sex changed ? Here we must still content 

 ourselves with mere conjectures. I submit 

 mine. 



The eggs in the ovaries contain the germ of 

 one or more drones. But these germs are so 

 slightly developed, that they are not perceptible 

 by our best microscopes. On the other hand, 

 the spermatozoids contained in fecundated or 

 worker eggs, being more developed, are visible 

 as soon as deposited. According to the law 

 that the time required for perfecting bees, is 



*Dr. Donuoffso stated, in on of his earlier "Contribu- 

 tions io Bee Culture," publi.sh.ed in the Bienemeitw g, but 

 subsequently admitted that he may have been, and 

 probably was, under an erroneous impression.— Ed. 



five days for the workers, and ten days for tho 

 queens, shorter than for the drones, one of the 

 spermatozoids grows faster than the drone- 

 germ, absorbs it and tills its place. The germ 

 or germs, unaltered by digestion, as the new 

 theory supposes, remains in the new-born indi- 

 viduals, ready and multiplying for future gene- 

 rations, if placed in favorable circumstances, 

 and so on. Consequently, if you can artificial- 

 ly put a newly deposited drone egg in contact 

 with some drone spermatozoids, as did Mr. 

 Donhoff, (a very difficult operation, indeed), 

 you can change the sex of that egg. Yet, if the 

 operation is delayed, the drone germ being more 

 developed, the two male and female spermato- 

 zoids, combining together, become hermaphro- 

 dite, as suggested by Mr. Oldt, in the February 

 number of the Bee Journal, page 151. 



Prof. Varro concludes tho article referred to, 

 by saying " Please, Brother Grimm, don't ask 

 me to exchange one of my Langstroth queens 

 for a pure Italian just imported." Why thus ? 

 Did Prof. Varro think that Mr. Grimm's import- 

 ed queens are less pure than those of Mr. L ing- 

 stroth ? Yet, in his article on page 20 of the 

 Journal, Vol. 3, he avowed himself to be the 

 owner of Swiss imported bees, producing queens 

 and workers so exactly like those produced by 

 his Langstroth queens, that a good judge might 

 readily mistake one for the other. 



Have the Langstroth bees more impeccability 

 of temper ? Yet, in the same article, Prof. 

 Varro made no distinction, in that respect, be- 

 tween his imported and his Langstroth bees. 



Is it the color ? Allow me a digression. Ten 

 or twelve j'ears ago, wishing to replace by im- 

 ported queens the Italian bees I had from Mr. 

 Debeauvoys, I received at the same time two 

 invoices — the one from Italian Swiss, the other 

 from Lombardy. On their arrival, the latter 

 were so light in color, comparatively, that I be- 

 lieved them purer than the former. But some 

 months after, there was no longer any percep- 

 tible difference between them, in this respect. 

 I then thought that the climate had an influence 

 on their color ; but subsequent observation led 

 me to doubt the correctness of that conclusion. 

 Doubtless the weather can produce some ef- 

 fect on the color. But, to my knowledge, the 

 color of the honey consumed in rearing brood, 

 produces more effect on the color of the bees 

 than the climate or the season. Here, last year, 

 the month of May was unusually wet. A queen 

 raised by me in that month, exclusively on 

 stored buckwheat honey, was very dark color- 

 ed. Another, partly raised on newly gathered 

 honey, was sensibly lighter. Yet, my darker 

 queen became so handsome, the following sum- 

 mer, that were I not sure she is the same, I 

 should believe her changed. 



Moreover, the color of the honey sac placed in 

 the ab I >m< n influences the shading of the tr 

 parent Tings. In the buckwheat season, bees 

 grow daily darker. Everybody can verify the 

 cy of this statement. It, is owing to the 

 difference in thecontei honey sac, that 



two queens of the same race or variety arc 

 rarely alike. Let some one gorge a portion of 

 his bees with colorless sugar water, and another 

 portion with dark-colored honey, and the exper- 



