286 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



is fertilized as it passes down the oviduct 

 of the queen; and it is evident that the vrord 

 is used with entirely different significance 

 in the two cases. 



Let us first define the word as used in 

 connection with the marriag-e-flight. The 

 queen flies from the hive, circles in the air, 

 first in small and then in larger circles, 

 then suddenly starts upward followed by 

 the drones. This much is easily seen; but 

 no one has, I believe, been able to describe 

 any more of the flight. The queen returns 

 to the hive later, carrying with her the cop- 

 ulatory organ of the drone, and after a lit- 

 tle this is ejected. The essential part is, 

 however, that her spermatheca, or seminal 

 receptacle, is filled with spermatozoa during 

 the marriage-flight. The number of these 

 has been estimated at from two to twenty 

 million, and it is at least certain that she 

 receives enough so that she can keep on lay- 

 ing worker eggs for four or five years. The 

 spermatozoa are the essential things in this 

 fertilization, and not the fluid in which they 

 float, and these do not divide or increase in 

 number in any way after they enter the 

 queen. 



A question that comes to mind in this 



connection 

 is, whether 

 the queen 

 takes more 

 than one 

 marriage- 

 flight. We 

 do know she 

 takes sever- 

 al small pre- 

 -in.Tc p a r a to r y 

 flights, and 

 I have been 

 „ . . . . recently in- 



.— Egg of ASCARIS ]ust after matura- J! 3 . „ 



n; f n, female nucleus ; m n, maJe lui incu uy a. 



nucleus. HI an whom I 



consider a careful observer that he has seen 

 the same queen enter her hive two or three 

 times with the male organs hanging to her. 

 This is a thing which all queen-breeders 

 •hould know positively, and there is but 

 one way to find out. The text-books say 

 •he meets but one drone, and we will pre- 

 sume that they are probably right; but it 

 is not positively settled, it seems. The 

 way to test this is to get down by the hive 

 every afternoon during the time of flight, 

 and stay there until the queen is seen to fly 

 and return. If she enters one day with the 

 organs attached, and these are removed be- 

 fore noon the next day, and then she flies 

 again and returns with the organs cf an- 

 other drone, it is conclusive proof that she 

 has met more than one. It will not do to 

 guess or theorize about this, and no one has 

 a right to express an opinion on this in a 

 public way unless he has actually stayed 

 by the hive all afternoon for several days, 

 and would then be willing to swear by his 

 observations. If any of the readers of this 

 journal have the patience and interest to 

 try this I should be glad to hear of it; and 

 I will myself, during the coming summer. 



FlQ.l 

 tion 



take up the observation, and report. It 

 will be admitted by all, I think, that in too 

 many things we are willing to take the 

 word of seme one else without being sure 

 that his observations are careful; and it is 

 very desirable to get as m2iny facts as pos- 

 sible on this subject^/at/i concerning which 

 there is no room for doubt. 



The fertilization of an e^^ is an entirely 

 different phe- 

 nomenon. As 

 the egg ccmes 

 down the ovi- 

 duct of the 

 queen it passes 

 the entrance of 

 the spermathe- 

 ca; and if it is 

 to be a worker 

 egg it receives 

 from the sper- 

 matheca 07ie 

 spermatozoon 

 through the 

 opening in the end next to the ovary, called 

 the micropyle. This one spermatozoon car- 

 ries with it the hereditary influences from 

 the male parent; and, although very small 

 in comparison with the egg, yet it contains 

 just as many of the carriers of heredity 

 as does the egg which comes from the ova- 

 ry of the queen. I myself have never seen 

 the fertilization of a bee's egg; but the phe- 

 nomenon has been most accurately observed 

 on manyeggs, and I will describewhat takes 

 place in the eggs of the parasitic round worm 

 from the intestine of the horse, Ascaris 

 tnegalocephela, where I have repeatedly ob- 

 ser%'ed it. This is preferable for two rea- 

 sons: First, the mechanics of fertilization 

 are more simple; and, second, the observa- 

 tion has been made on this by many zoolo- 

 gists, and is reliable. There is every rea- 

 son to suppose that it is exactly what takes 

 place in every animal, for so far no one has 

 found a case which differs. 



The unfertilized egg of Ascaris has a nu- 



-/tixTV., 



Fig. 2.— Egg of Ascaris just later 

 than Fig. 1. 



Fig. 3. — Egg of Ascaris, later than Fig. 2 ; chromosomei 

 being gathered together. 



cleus which contains four bodies called 

 chromosomes. They are, however, broken 

 up into finer divisions; but the egg then en- 

 ters upon a series of changes called the 

 maturation of the egg, and then these chro- 

 mosomes become definite in shape, and can 

 be easily counted. In the maturation, two 



