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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 12, 1902. 



a theory to explain it. but also makes the basis of an extended 

 argument which he used in his controversy with Weisniann. 

 The latter, who gave us the term "telegony," writes as fol- 

 lows in the Contemporary Review: 



' 'I must say that, to this day, and in spite of the additional 

 cases brought forward by Spencer and Romanes, I do not 

 consider that telegony has been proved. I should accept a 

 case like that of Lord Morton's mare as satisfactory evidence 

 if it were quite certainly beyond a doubt. But this is by no 

 means the case, as Setegast has abundantly proved.'' 



Settegast explained the case in question as an instance 

 of "reversion." He says, "Cases are not rare where colts are 

 born with stripes which recall the marking of a quagga or 

 zebra." Many German breeders hold with Weismann that 

 telegony is yet unproved. 



The late Sir Everett Millais, an eminent breeder of dogs in 

 England, was also a doubter. He says: 



"I may further adduce the fact that, in a breeding experi- 

 ence of nearly thirty years' standing, during which I made 

 all sorts of experiments with pure-blood dams and wild- 

 blood sires, and returned them afterward to pure sires of 

 their own breed, I have never seen a case of telegony, nor has 

 my breeding-stock suffered. I may further adduce the fact 

 that I have made over fifty experiments for Prof. Romanes, 

 to induce a case of telegony in a variety of animals — dogs, 

 ducks, hens, pigeons, etc., but I have hopelessly failed, as has 

 every experimenter who has tried to produce the phenome- 

 non." 



Very recently Prof. Ewart used Matopo, a beautiful zebra 

 stallion. He has secured eleven zebra hybrids, from mares 

 of various breeds and sizes. Some of these hybrids were 

 even more marked with stripes than the sire. The mares were 

 afterward bred to horses. The progeny were for the most 

 part very much like ordinary foals. There were, however, 

 stripes, which in some cases were quite evident in certain 

 lights, but even these in many cases disappeared later. It 

 is interesting to note, however, that these faint stripes were 

 unlike those of the sire or even the hybrids. Foals of 

 ordinary breeding very often show similar stripes. Many 

 of the colts show no stripes at all, nor any indication of taint. 

 Prof. Ewart has also experimented with pigeons, fowls, ducks, 

 and dogs. There were many cases of rabbits, and in every 

 case the mother which had been impurely mated subsequently 

 bred true upon being purely mated. Prof. Ewart does not 

 claim to have proved anything. He is certain that it does not 

 always occur, and believes with German breeders that, if 

 it occurs at all, it is seldom. We quote from him : "The 

 experiments, as far as they have gone, afford no evidence in 

 support of the telegony hypothesis." He believes that the 

 stripes are easily explained by atavism or reversion. Certainly 

 we owe a great debt of gratitude to this Edinburgh professor. 

 Very recently Prof. Ewart gave the results of further experi- 

 ments to the same purpose. 



The late Dr. Manly Miles, in his "Principles of Stock- 

 breeding," accepts telegony. He gives a case in his own 

 breeding. An Essex sow was bred to a Chester White boar. 

 She was afterward mated purely, and produced a litter of pigs 

 which were as much mixed black and white as the previous 

 litter. I was at the time a colleague of Dr. Miles, and with 

 many others had grave doubts regarding the experiment. A 

 careless work-hand, the accidental opening of a gate, so 

 many things would explain the result without an appeal to 

 telegony. The taint was so great that it could not but 

 make us skeptical. 



As is well known, many poultry-men and apiarists argue 

 that the law of telegony is as true of birds and bees as of 

 mammals. I have long doubted its truth with poultry, or our 

 pets of the hive. Telegony was at first explained as blood- 

 taint in the case of mammals ; but there is no intermixture 

 of the blood of the mother and the embryo. An extensive 

 membranJ in the placenta separates entirely the blood of 

 mother and fcetus. Blood-taint is obviously impossible. The 

 nerves were next appealed to to explain this phenomenon. 

 This, however, is vain, as the nerves of mother and offspring 

 are entirely separate. Dr. Miles called in cell-inoculation to 

 explain telegonj'. We all know how inflammation spreads 

 in the case of wounds. The explanation is evident. Poison, 

 or possibly microbes, pass from the injured to the uninjured 

 cells, and, with the spread of the cause of the disease, the 

 disease spreads. In telegony there is no virus, and so there 

 could be no inoculation. Herbert Spencer suggests that 

 "germ plasm" passes from the foetus to the mother and becomes 



a part of her body, and spreads to affect all the tissues, even 

 the reproductive organs. This is surely very hypothetical. 



I was led to question the truth of telegony, as the testi- 

 mony seemed as conclusive with birds and bees as with 

 matninals. Mr. Spencer's germ-plasm could not affect in these 

 latter cases. With fowls, only the sperm-cells are lodged, and 

 that for a brief space, in the oviduct of the hen. There is 

 no organic connection, and it is hard to see how any influence 

 could taint the hen. I know it is claimed with some show of 

 authority that impure mating changes the color" of the egg- 

 shell. I can only say, very interesting if true. If such a 

 change occurs, I believe reversion explains it. In the case of 

 bees the connection is a little more obvious. Here millions 

 of sperm-cells are lodged for years in the spermatheca, or 

 sperm-sac, of the queen. There is, however, no difference in 

 kind froini the fowls — the only difference is in time. The 

 sperm-cells are present in the reproductive apparatus for 

 years instead of days. 



So grave were my doubts that I experimented at length 

 to see if I might decide the matter. My experiments with 

 poultry were made with Light Brahnias and Brown Leg- 

 horns. These birds are different in limb, feather, form, habit, 

 and color of egg. The fowls all ran together through the 

 winter, mating promiscuously. In early spring I separated 

 the birds, putting all the Leghorns, male and female, in one 

 pen and the Brahmas in another. After three weeks I 

 commenced to incubate the eggs, and raised over 200 chickens. 

 There was not the least show of taint in either breed. We 

 all know how persistent the feathers on the legs are with 

 any show of Brahma blood. My Leghorns had legs that 

 were entirely clean. At the close of these experiments I 

 was more skeptical than ever as to the truth of telegony in 

 birds. Noted breeders of long experience in our country make 

 similar reports. 



I next experimented with bees. I procured a queen all 

 the way from Syria. I introduced her in my apiary where 

 there were only Italians. I at once reared several queens 

 from her which must have been mated exclusively with 

 Italian drones, as there were no Syrian drones within hun- 

 dreds of miles. As is well known, drones hatch from unim- 

 pregnated eggs. Here, then, if the drones from these queens 

 should show any Italian taint, we should have positive proof 

 of telegony in bees. The eggs, not being impregnated, can 

 produce only drones that have the characteristics of the 

 mother. If impure, then surely the mother must be affected. 

 In this case we have examples, not by the tens nor the 

 hundreds, but by the thousands. I examined these drones 

 very -carefully, as did my students and many others. Every 

 drone was decidedly Syrian, and had not the slightest mark 

 of an Italian. Have we not, then, good reason to doubt the 

 truth of telegony in bees ? 



I have known several cases among mammals where tele- 

 gony might be put in evidence if true ; yet in every case the 

 evidence was absent. I know this is only negative testimony. 

 I went to the Chicago exhibition during the time that mules 

 were being exhibited. I talked with many extensive breeders, 

 and not one believed in telegony. The.y all said that they had 

 had no evidence of its truth. 



As stated at the beginning of this article, this is a matter 

 of no little importance to the breeder. If telegony be true, 

 then accidental cross-mating with any female for ever taints 

 her blood. I am so firm in the belief that it is not true that 

 I would not pay a nickel less for a shorthorn or Jersey be- 

 cause, at some time in the past, she had been impurely 

 mated.— Gleanings in Bee-Culture. Los Angeles Co., Calif. 



% The Afterthought. ^ 



The "Old Reliable" seen through New'and Unreliable Qlasuf. 

 By E. E. HASTY. Sta. B Rural, Toledo, O. 



LAW AGAINST BAD HONEY-DEW HONEY. 



And so the New York folks have got a law under which 

 the man who puts on the market a bad article of extracted 

 honey-dew can be fined fifty dollars ? It would serve him 

 right, and, so far, no cause of complaint. But some years, 

 and through extensive regions, half the honey produced is 

 more or leas mixed with natural sweets not nectar of flowers 



