18'j7. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL^ 



323 



dominating influence of the blacks. This is the more reason- 

 able cause of accounting for the production of black queens, 

 the progeny of yellow. According to Dr. Gallup's reasoning, 

 Nature would be disordered, and creatures who bring forth 

 Their young in rainy or cold seasons, if the parents were white, 

 the offspring would be black, and those of us who are poorly 

 fed in those hard pinching times, may look for colored progeny 

 as the result. If the Doctor will take the trouble to road this 

 article, and digest it thoroughly, he will, If not wedded to pet 

 theories, or blinded by self-interest like many others, be con- 

 vinced that he has written erroneously. 



In describing Aaron Benedict's experience on Kelley's 

 Island, in Lake Erie, with progeny from his first Imported 

 queen, the Doctor says : "Queens reared from her were as 

 black as crows, and he decided the mother queen was worth- 

 less, and destroyed her. I had quite a discussion with him in 

 N. C. Mitchell's journal, but coi Id not make him own up, for 

 if you convince a man against his will, he is of the same opin- 

 ion still. So I dropt him in disgust." Possibly the Doctor 

 may have to be left where he left Aaron Benedict. Aaron 

 was right, tho, and so am I. 



On page 074 of the Bee Journal for 1893, are some ques- 

 tions on the purity of Italian bees by A. P. L., of Batesburgh, 

 S. C, and answered by Dr. J. P. H. Brown, who says: " I 

 you wish to keep your bees pure, you should have all Italian 

 drones in a radius of four miles." This is sound advice. Now 

 the question is, What constitutes an Italian drone ? Is an 

 Italian drone black, brown, mottled, or what color is he ? He 

 should be of some fixt type, because, as a rule, the queens are 

 yellow or bronze, and the Italian worker, if pure, must have 

 three yellow bands, and every one so. Now when there is 

 such an exactness in fixing the type of the worker why not fix 

 on a type for the parent with the same exactness ? It seems 

 to me more reasonable to look to the drone for a type than to 

 the worker, because parthenogenesis in the queen removes the 

 effect of a union with a second parent, as far as the produc- 

 tion of drones is concerned, thereby making doubly sure the 

 fixedness of every characteristic, especially color. The drone 

 should be an exact copy or type of the mother, if she is herself 

 pure or of pure origin. That is to say, if the queen shows 

 three or more yellow bands, the balance of the abdominal seg- 

 ments being bronze the drone should be similarly markt, be- 

 cause, as has already been said, like begets like ; the drone 

 having no father, the queen taking the role of both father and 

 mother. 



From this it will at once be seen that there should be no 

 uncertainty as to what color the drone should be. If the 

 mother is yellow and of pure origin the drone will be of the 

 same type, just the same as a black queen of pure origin the 

 drones will be black. 



The Doctor says : "There is not one queen in fifty that 

 will invariably duplicate herself in marking in her queen 

 progeny." The Doctor, perhaps, is not aware of the fact that 

 every queen that has been produced on Toronto Island for the 

 past three years, not only duplicated themselves invariably in 

 markings in queen progeny, but in workers and drones also, 

 the drones being as yellow as the queens. I hope to be ex- 

 cused for thus writing, because the Doctor seems to ignore in- 

 variable yellowness as the test of purity in the yellow race. 

 He will admit invariable blackness as the test of purity of our 

 native bees. We all know the results of a pure black queen 

 mated to a pure black drone— black offspring, of course- 

 queen, workers, and dron&s. Then why should not a pure 

 yellow queen, mated to a pure yellow drone, produce similar 

 results, .all things being equal ? 



Having toucht slightly on the law of similarity, we come 

 now to a second law, viz.: variation or divergence, by which 

 that of similarity is greatly modified. All organic beings, 

 whether plants or animals, possess a certain flexibility or 



pliancy of organization rendering them capable of change to a 

 greater or less extent. Climate, food, and habit are the prin- 

 cipal causes of variation which are known to be in any markt 

 degree under the control of man. It would be useless for us 

 to speculate here upon the laws that govern variation. The 

 fact that these exist is what the breeder has to deal with, and 

 a most important one it is, for it is this chiefly which makes 

 hereditary transmission the problem that it is. 



The knowledge of this law gives us a clue to the causes of 

 many disappointments, of which practical breeders often com- 

 plain, and many variations otherwise unaccounted for, such 

 as red heads, black heads, white heads, and cock-eyed babies 

 appearing in our families, which the Doctor refers to. A 

 knowledge of this law suggests particular caution as to the 

 first male employed in the coupling of animals. It will at 

 once be seen we have nothing to fear from this in the mating 

 of queens — once mated, always mated. 



It is a known law among breeders that whenever a pure 

 female of any breed has been pregnant to an animal of a 

 different breed, such pregnant animal is a cross ever after, 

 and forever becomes incapable of producing pure stock of any 

 kind. From this cause has arisen many new varieties or 

 types, so that those who are now engaged in the perfecting of 

 Apis mellifica can rest assured that all risks are removed as 

 far as often mating is concerned in the queeu, removing one 

 of the greatest diSiculties that the breeders of live stock has 

 to contend with. 



From what has been said it will be needless to give illus- 

 trations, of which a journal could be filled, personally ob- 

 served and by others, arising out of this law, and it applies 

 not only to our bees and other domestics, but let us bring it 

 home to ourselves. I see nothing more mongrel in nature 

 than some of the human family. Were the physiological laws, 

 or laws of breeding, better understood and more widely dif- 

 fused among all classes, crime and disease would disappear, 

 prisons and asylums would be removed, doctors, lawyers, and 

 ministers would be less required. Man would become physic- 

 ally, mentally, and morally improved — in fact, such. would be 

 the change in a few generations that many would be led to 

 believe the Millennium had diwned. This should be taught 

 in our common schools of learning, and preacht from the pul- 

 pit. Please pardon me for digressing. 



On this continent our bees, known as "natives," like our- 

 selves, are of mixt foreign origin, and have been bred with no 

 care in selection, but crost in every possible way. They pos- 

 sess no fixt hereditary traits, and altho among them are many 

 of respectable qualities, and which possess desirable charac- 

 teristics, they cannot be relied upon as breeders to perpetuate 

 like excellence in their progeny. Instead of constancy there 

 is continual breediug back, exhibiting the undesirable traits 

 of inferior ancestors. That a breed might be establisht out of 

 this chaos, by carcf.il selection, aided by judicious crossing 

 with more recent importations fully as good as any now ex- 

 isting, is not to be dnibted. To accomplish this perfect isola- 

 tion has to be sought, and then the work to be in the hands of 

 those who possess the skill, enthusiasm, ample means, and 

 indomitable perseverance requisite to success. 



The deprest tim^s makes it a very difficult matter for one 

 with limited mean'! to carry on an enterprise of this kind. It 

 just means a lifetime devoted to close observation and careful 

 study, such as Charles Colling, Mason, Bates, Boothe, and 

 Bakewell conducted in the improvement of our cattle, sheep, 

 and our other domestics. No adequate estimate could be 

 made of the advantages accruing from the labors of those 

 worthy men — advantages we have all shared in — by whose in- 

 domitable perseverance and skill a very extensive portion of 

 the world has been blest. Such labors, whether in the im- 

 provement of our bees or other domestics, is as much a 

 triumph of science and skill as the construction of a railroad. 



