148 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



confined three hundred workers 

 along with a comb containing no 

 eggs, and afterward found hundreds 

 in it, I strongly recommended that he 

 should dissect the workers. He did 

 so ; and informed me that eggs were 

 discovered in three. 



Probably without being aware of 

 it he has dissected small queens. As 

 small drones exist, it is not surpris- 

 ing if small queens are produced 

 also and undoubtedly by the same 

 external causes. 



It is of much consequence to be 

 intimately acquainted with this spe- 

 cies of queens, for they may have 

 great influence on different experi- 

 ments, and may embarrass the ob- 

 server ; we should ascertain whether 

 they inhabit pyramidal cells smaller 

 than the common or hexagonal ones. 



Mr. Schirach's famous experiment 

 on the supposed conversion of a 

 common worm into a royal one can- 

 not be too often repeated, though the 

 Lusatian observers already have done 

 so frequently. I am anxious to learn 

 whether, as the discoverer maintains, 

 the experiment will succeed only 

 with worms three or four days old, 

 and never with simple eggs. 



The Lusatian observers, and the 

 naturalists of the Palatinate affirm, 

 that where common bees are con- 

 fined with combs absolutely void of 

 eggs, they then lay none but those 

 of drones. Thus there may be small 

 queens producing the eggs of males 

 only, for it is evident they must have 

 produced those supposed to come 

 from workers. 



But how is it possible to conceive 

 that their ovaries contain male eggs 

 alone ? 



According to Mr. DeReaumur the 

 life of chrysalides may be prolonged 

 by keeping them in a low tempera- 

 ture, such as that of an ice-house. 



The same experiment should be 

 made on the eggs of a queen ; and 

 on the nymphs of drones and work- 

 ers. 



Another interesting experiment 



would be removing all the combs 

 composed by the common cells, and 

 leaving none but those destined for 

 the larvae of males. 



By this means we should learn 

 whetlier the eggs of common worms, 

 laid by the queen in the large cells, 

 will produce large workers. It is very 

 probable, however, that deprivation 

 of the common cells might discour- 

 age the bees, because they require 

 them for their honey and wax. 



Nevertheless, it is likely, that by 

 taking away only a part of them the' 

 workers may be forced to lay com- 

 mon eggs, in the cells of drones. 



I should also wish to have the 

 young larva gently removed from the 

 royal cell, and deposited at the bot- 

 tom of a common one, along with 

 some of the royal food. 



As the figure of hives has much 

 influence on the respective disposi- 

 tion of the combs, it would be a 

 satisfactory experiment greatly to 

 diversity their shape and internal 

 dimensions. 



Nothing could be better adapted 

 to instruct us how bees can regulate 

 and apply their labors to existing 

 circumstances. This may enable us 

 to discover particular facts which we 

 cannot foresee. 



The royal eggs, and those produc- 

 ing drones, have not yet been care- 

 fully compared with the eggs from 

 which workers proceed. But it 

 ought to be done, that we may as- 

 certain whether these different eggs 

 have secret distinctive characteris- 

 tics. 



The food supplied by the workers 

 to the royal worm is not the same 

 with that given to the common worm. 



Could we not endeavor with the 

 point of a pencil to remove a little 

 of the royal food, and give it to a 

 common worm deposited in a cell of 

 the largest dimensions? I have 

 seen common cells hanging almost 

 vertically, where the queen has laid ; 

 and these I should prefer for such 

 an experiment. 



