THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For tho American Bee Journal.] 



The Varronian Theory. 



Association begets thought, and thought 

 sharpens intellect, and leads on by almost im- 

 perceptible degrees to the discovery or develop- 

 ment of some science or art. Thus it is that 

 such a periodical as the Bee Journal becomes 

 the representative of our thinking heads ; and 

 often a hint from one leads another on to a 

 standpoint far In advance of what would have 

 been attained unaided, Facts are brought to 

 light ; error is exposed ; and theory gives way 

 to practice. Hence discussions are valuable 

 alike to all, and truth sooner or later triumphs; 

 the sharper the conflict the sooner it is over, 

 and the brighter she shines. One fact is worth 

 all the speculative theories in the world. 

 Theories conflict ; facts never do. 



By this rule, I propose to try the Var- 

 ronian theory, with the single purpose of 

 arriving at the truth ; and as there are several 

 points which I desire to notice, and not wishing 

 to misrepresent the author, I will give his own 

 language, and follow with my remarks. 



"Abnormities In the animal kingdom origi- 

 nate in a forced compliance with the normal 

 decree of Providence." Say, rather, in a fail- 

 ure to comply with the normal decree, or to the 

 absence of some of the elements essential to the 

 formation of a normal organism. "Appropri- 

 ate food maladministered, and inappropriate 

 food well administered to the young of any ani- 

 mal, constitutes a forced compliance with the 

 normal decree of Providence." Maladminis- 

 tration of proper food, and inappropriate food 

 well administered constitute a clear case of non- 

 "compliance with the normal decree of Provi- 

 dence." Providence either decreed that inap- 

 propriate food should be the normal food, or 

 else He did not. If He did, then giving it is 

 "no forced compliance." If He did not, then 

 it is no compliance at all, but a clear case of 

 non-compliance or violation of normal decrees. 



"In the hive all individuality not reared di- 

 rectly from the egg, ab initio as such, implies 

 forced or unnatural compliance." Compliance 

 with what ? Unnatural compliance with the 

 law of nature I This would be nonsense. And 

 if nature be thus kicked out of doors, what does 

 rule the economy of the hive? "Fertile queens 

 reared out of season, dronedaying*queens, and 

 fertile workers, are abnormalties," We beg to 

 know what particular time is to be con- 

 sidered out of season. In this latitude bees 

 swarm all the way from May to Septem- 

 ber, and I had thought there was scarcely 

 a day the year around that bees were not 

 swarming somewhere in the world, and 

 of course rearing queens. "It is therefore 

 evident that the greater portion of this sub- 

 stance [royal jelly] is an animal secretion, and 

 being mixed with gastric juice and pepsin, &c." 

 I have yet to learn that royal jelly has ever 

 been discovered in the stomach of workers ; 

 much less that it has been found to contain 

 " gastric juice and pepsin ;" and should like to 

 have the evidence of it. "A minute quantity 

 of sugar is discoverable in it, which transform- 



ing from starch or pollen, and having as yet 

 not had time to completely change into lactic 

 acid, imparts, no doubt, to this royal food its 

 pungent flavor." But has starch or pollen 

 been found in said royal jelly? If starch is 

 there lactic acid may doubtless also be had, pro- 

 vided decomposition goes far enough to decom- 

 pose the starch. I feel very much disposed, 

 however, to doubt the presence of starch, or 

 pollen either, since the usual chemical tests fail 

 to detect them. (See Analysis of Royal Jelly, 

 Bee Journal, vol. I, page 3G). Albumen or 

 fibrin are present, but we do not get lactic acid 

 from them. Nor do we get it from pollen ; 

 but we would probably get ammonia, carbonic 

 acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen, as a result of 

 decomposition and recomposition of the carbon- 

 aceous and nitrogenous constituents of this jel- 

 ly. "From the presence of fatty matter in this 

 royal peptone, I infer that worker eggs play an 

 important role in it, for it is well known that 

 the yolk of eggs contains not only oil in con- 

 siderable quantity, but also spermatozoids." 

 This inference, based on certain known facts in 

 regard to eggs in general, will apply when it 

 has been proven that bees' eggs have these re- 

 quisites. I presume the oil and spermatozoids 

 can be found ; but even then the conclusion 

 does not follow". "I believe, therefore, that 

 when the egg from which a queen is to be pro- 

 duced is placed into the royal cell, the workers 

 dose the incipient queen expectant ab initio, 

 with worker eggs, prepared by them by simple 

 insalivation, and thus not only furnish it with 

 its appropriate pabulum, but also impregnate 

 this egg, or larva, upon its immediate exclusion 

 from this egg, with the spermatozoids present in 

 these worker eggs." This strikes me as one of 

 the most remarkable sentences I remember ever 

 to have read in my life. If I understand the 

 meaning, it is this : — the eggs and spermato- 

 zoids fed to this queen expectant, in this royal 

 jelly, are to effect a kind of double impregnation. 

 That is, they are to impregnate an egg that is al- 

 ready impregnated, and that too by way of the 

 alimentary canal. On second thought, this ena- 

 bles me to account for the predominance of the 

 swine element in some of our western people — 

 they (get themselves with pig, that is) impreg- 

 nate themselves eating pork ! Happy thought f 

 But that this is no unfair construction of the 

 meaning of the passage, appears from the fol- 

 lowing — which tully explains the above : — " 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 por- 

 tion of worker eggs containing spermatozoids, 

 can effect additional impregnation upon the im- 

 pregnated egg in the royal cell.''' 1 The italics are 

 my own. Now I would like to be informed how 

 many of these eggs have to be fed to the expec- 

 tant queen to secure enough spermatozoids to 

 impregnate an egg already impregnated? Since 

 each one of these eggs would develop a wor- 

 ker, and as workers are the " mud sills " of the 

 colony, and since so many are fed to each 

 queen, perhaps this may help to explain the 

 high price at which the latter are sold ! Query, 

 would it not enable producers to sell queens at 



