APRIL 1, 1914 



267 



paired without introducing new blood ; but 

 it is bound to cause trouble sooner or later. 

 The' first defect of continuous breeding of 

 one stock, so far as I can learn, is a prone- 

 ness to paralysis. Why? The nerves are 

 deranged, just as in some of the royal fam- 

 ilies of Europe. Paralysis is a nervous 

 disease. Some say in-breeding can not pro- 

 duce bad results in bees ; but 1 am convinced 

 it has seriously deteriorated one good strain 

 of Italian bees. 



My experience with bees has been confined 

 to stock from one or more breeders in each 

 of eleven or more States and Italy. The 

 only varieties tried are Carniolan, Cyprian, 

 Syrian, blacks, and Italians. The Italian 

 from Italy and the yellow descendants of 

 the same, bred by many in the United 

 States, are so little alike as to be in entirely 

 different classes for practical results. Both 



dark and yellow Italians have good and bad 

 strains; but the best strains of either class 

 are not necessarily best adapted to every 

 locality. 



It is possible that some localities may be 

 found where some other bee is better than 

 the Italian ; but such locations are scarce, 

 in my opinion. Ordinarily my belief and 

 practice are to ascertain by actual experi- 

 ence which is most satisfactory — the light 

 or dark Italians; then test individuals of 

 promising stock before raising drones from 

 them. Enough outside stock should be in- 

 fused in the strain to keep up vigor; but 

 radical changes should be avoided. While 

 a breeder may be trying ever so hard to 

 improve his bees he should remember that 

 others are trying just as liard to improve 

 the same general ijpe of bee. 



Modesto, Cal. 



IS THERE A TENDENCY ON THE PART OF BEES TO REVERT TO THE 



ANCESTRAL TYPE? 



BY L. W. CROVATT 



There was a case experienced in queen- 

 breeding in my home yard last summer 

 when eg'g's hatched in the hive domain of a 

 golden queen, and grafted four days after- 

 ward by my own hands, developed several 

 queens of a color as dark as the average 

 German strain, and I have been casting 

 about without satisfactory results for the 

 logical reason. 



Some may say that I got queens of black 

 color from the German brood. This is not 

 the case, though, for the cells were grafted. 

 The colony from Avhich the larvae were taken 

 was undoubtedly Italian of a very percep- 

 tible marking; and to clinch the proposition 

 I will state that the cell cups were all on a 

 stick — of the artificial or wooden type — 

 and there wasn't an egg from the former 

 German queen tolerated until I could breed 

 Italians in the hive. In fact, I had removed 

 every comb excepting a few which had Avell- 

 sealed brood in them. 



Now, what I want to know is this : Could 

 tlie golden queen from which I was grafting 

 have in any manner, through a previous 

 generation, been by blood related to some 

 German race? If so, would tliere have been 

 such a sudden and violent reversion of type, 

 and the young " mother bees " have so 

 changed in color from the time of grafting 

 to hatching as almost to be mistaken for a 

 German ? 



Candidly, the thing has stuck in my mind, 

 and I have often studied over the proposi- 

 tion ; but it is seemingly no clearer to-day 



than it was when, in the mild mid-afternoon 

 sun of the balmy summer day in Dixie, I 

 removed my queen-nursery cage from the 

 cell-building colony. The cells had been 

 placed in the Titoff nursery cages on the 

 eighth day to avoid loss, as T was busy with 

 other matters and hardly expected to reach 

 tlie rijie cells in time to prevent a youngster 

 emerging and " wrecking " the remaining 

 cells. 



Surely it looks like atavism beyond per- 

 adventure; but who is qualified to say if 

 this is correct °? 



Savannah, Ga., Feb. 11. 



[The above was referred to Dr. Miller. 

 His reply follows. — Ed.] 



So far as I know, there is no reason why 

 atavism should not occur among bees as 

 well as among other living creatures. It 

 might also be expected to occur more readily 

 in your golden stock than among three- 

 banders, since golden stock is something 

 comparatively recent, and not so nearly a 

 flxecl type as tlie three-banders. Moreover, 

 it is more likely that in previous genera- 

 tions some black blood had worked into the 

 golden than into the three-band stock. 



You do not say positively; but from your 

 saying "several queens" I take it that all 

 the queens in that particular lot were dark. 

 I hardly think atavism is likely to occur in 

 such a wholesale way — more likely there 

 would be a single one of the lot showing 

 variation. 



