1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



381 



days" mentioned, because the "bulb" 

 left by the drone in the act of mating 

 had. in this case, become firmly fixed 

 (so that it was not removed by the 

 bees) and completely obstructed the 

 passage of eggs from the vagina. 



This summer another case of the 

 same kind was received from Deputy 

 Inspector Russell H. Kelty, Michigan 

 Agricultural College, East Lansing. 

 Mich. The following explanatory 

 extract is from Mr. Kclty's letter: 



"I have mailed you a queen from 

 the apiary of Dr. Palm, of East Lan- 

 sing The queen has been 



in the hive over two weeks and ap- 

 pears to have mated, but no eggs 

 have been laid." 



This queen was noticed by Mr. 

 Millen, Provincial Apiarist, Ontario, 

 Canada, who was calling on Dr. 

 Palm. Mr. Millen brought her to 

 Mr. Kelty and through their kindness 

 (knowing my interest in the subject 

 of queen mating) she was sent to 

 me for dissection. 



Examination showed that the 

 "bulb" of a drone organ (in a par- 

 tially dried condition) was still pres- 

 ent in the entrance to the queen's 

 vagina. On the dorsal side the ovi- 

 positor had pierced the edge of the 

 "bulb" so that, through the drying of 

 the latter, the two (i. e. ovipositor 

 and bulb) adhered together quite 

 firmly, and the egg-laying passage 

 was completely blocked. The queen 

 was almost dead w-hen she arrived, 

 most of the attendant bees in the 

 cage with her having died on the 

 way. Had she arrived in good condi- 

 tion, no doubt she might have bo- 

 come a normal egg-laying queen af- 

 ter the partially dried obstructing 

 "bulb" was removed. Her abdomen 

 appeared that of a young queen 

 ready to begin laying, and eggs were 

 present in the vagina. 



The two queens described here are 

 also of especial interest because the 

 orientation of the "bulb" in each 

 case seemed to confirm the report 

 made in Technical Bulletin No. 34 of 

 the Michigan Agricultural College 

 Experiment Station that the queen 

 and drone must meet ventral sides 

 together (i. e. face to face) in the 

 act of mating. 



Physiology department. Stanford 

 University, August 27, 1920. 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE CELL 



By Jes Dalton 



This is a sequel to the article on 

 page 308 of the September number. 



Shortly after the observations re- 

 ported in the above article, I inserted 

 a ripe queen-cell in the colony. It 

 was destroyed, as well as the one in 

 which the queen had laid. A few 

 queen-cells were again built and de- 

 stroyed after being sealed. At 

 length one was built on each of 3 

 combs. Finally one of those hatched, 

 the virgin was tolerated in the colony 

 and I kept watch of her until she 

 mated and began to lay. 



Both queens are still in this small 

 colony, both laying, and sometimes 

 on the same comb, not more than an 

 inch apart, September 10. 



I have had much amusement show- 

 ing them to neighbor beekeepers, 



both on the same comb, both of equal 

 size and one only a couple of months 

 younger than the other. I shall leave 

 them and see how long they remain. 



The older queen sometimes does 

 not succeed in depositing her eggs 

 in the cells, but they adhere to her 

 and are wasted. I presume this is 

 the key to the whole matter. Some- 

 tliing similar may be the explanation 

 of Mr. Dickcrson's experience, men- 

 tioned on page 299 of the same num- 

 ber. 



In requeening some other colonies 

 this past summer, I found a good- 

 looking virgin in the same hive with 

 a good-looking old- queen. I took out 

 the old queen with some frames of 

 brood, setting them on a new stand 

 and inserting a ripe queen-cell W'ith 

 the old queen. She hatched out, 

 mated and began to lay. I repeated 

 the performance, three consecutive 

 times, and succeeded. I had intended 

 to carry the experiment further, but 

 this yard being in an out-of-the-way 

 place some vandals opened the little 

 hive to take honey, and the colony 

 was finally robbed. 



Louisiana. 



conventions. This year a record at- 

 tendance is expected, in view of the 

 fact that the new apicultural building 

 will be formally opened by one of the 

 meml)ers of the Ontario Cabinet. 



The new apiculture building is 

 thought to be the finest and most 

 modern building in North America, 

 devoted entirely to beekeeping. 



The program includes some of the 

 most jirominent beekeepers of both 

 the United States and Canada. 



The Secretary is making all ar- 

 rangements for rooms to ensure com- 

 fort while attending the meetings. 



The Ontario Beekeepers' Associa- 

 tion issues a hearty invitation to all 

 beekeepers, both north and south of 

 the invisible line, to attend this con- 

 vention. Programs and full particu- 

 lars will be gladly sent by the Secre- 

 tary, F. Eric Millen, Ontario Agricul- 

 tural College, Guelph, Ontario. 



ONTARIO'S FORTIETH CONVEN- 

 TION 



The Ontario beekeepers are hold- 

 ing their 40th annual convention at 

 the Ontario Agricultural College, 

 Guelph, on December 1, 2 and 3, 1920. 



Ontario has always been noted for 

 largely attended and interesting 



WINTERING IN NEVADA 



I had good success wintering last 

 winter with a sheet of I'/z inch build- 

 ing felt placed under the corners of 

 each hive. 



The bees had several good flights 

 and the temperature went as low as 

 zero here. I looked in on several oc- 

 casions on cold mornings and the 

 bees seemed more active and clus- 

 tered nearer the top than usual. 



The felt can be bought cheaply, as 

 a large roll only cost $4.50, which is 

 enough to equip over 200 stands. 



IRA G. BLUNDELL. 



BEEKEEPERS BY THE WAY 



A Veteran Queen Breeder 



For 48 years J. M. Davis, of Tennes- 

 see, has been rearing queens. This 

 very probably puts him at the head of 

 the list for length of continuous ex- 

 perience as a queen breeder. Queen 

 rearing is a fascinating line of work, 

 but it has its disagreeable features. 

 The customer lives at a great dis- 

 tance and it is hard to explain the 

 difficulties which must be met in rear- 

 ing good queens and getting them to 

 the purchaser just when he wants 

 them. Davis was a railroad man who 

 took up beekeeping as a side line. 

 Living in a section where the honey- 

 flows are uncertain, he decided that 

 queen breeding offered a better de- 

 pendence than honey production. He 

 has been remarkably successful in dt- 

 veloping a strain of bees which havt 

 given good satisfaction and in rear- 

 ing them in sufficient quantity tu 

 make the business worth while. He 

 has lived to see beekeeping dc- 

 vevloped from a fad to a real busi- 

 ness, and the demand for queens in- 

 crease from a few hundred annually 

 to such a point that the combined fa- 

 cilities of all the queen breeders of 

 .America are unable to supply more 

 than a small part of the possible need. 



Americas oldcsl queen bieedei 



