120 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



already indicated, as to yellow bees in 

 Carniola, is sim])ly tliat Italian blood 

 has been brought in from provinces bor- 

 dering on Italy. And, though I do not 

 hesitate to say that such yellow banded 

 bees from Carniola are excellent work- 

 ers, gentler and far superior to our com- 

 mon bees, and that their introduction 

 into this country is therefore a great 

 benefit to apiculture, this does not make 

 them ////if Carniolans, nor will it make 

 them breed so as to be uniform in color 

 and qualities. Such points can only 

 come after a good many generations 

 have been bred under cour^tant and care- 

 ful selection. 



The writer, on page 80, American 

 Apiculturist, for May, 1892, is further 

 quite mistaken when he says that at the 

 time my article from which he has 

 quoted was printed in the British Bee 

 Journal (in 1888) "a great controversy 

 was going on respecting w^hether bees 

 with yellow bands existed in Carniola." 

 I was a party to the controversy to 

 which it is evident allusion is made, but 

 I did not understand that it was a ques- 

 tion as to whether bets with yellow 

 bands existed in Carniola. I had stated 

 in print three years before that such 

 bees existed, and meanwhile many bee- 

 keepers had received similar bees from 

 Carniola itself. I had then been resid- 

 ing in Carniola for some time and had 

 reaffirmed my earlier statement that yel- 

 low banded bees were scattered through 

 the province,|and had given what I con- 

 sidered good evidence that they were 

 there long before I set foot in Europe. 

 I believe I am familiar with all that has 

 been written respecting Carniolan bees, 

 and feel safe therefore in saying that no 

 record of such a controversy has ever 

 been made. 



A controversy did exist, however, and 

 was one brought on by the accusation 

 put u])on me of having introduced East- 

 ern bees into Carniola, and having 

 thereby disseminated yellow blood in 

 Carniola. I could have given much more 

 testimony than I did concerning the 

 matter, but my opposers, with an arro- 

 gance born only of their own ignorance 



and the assumption that the public knew 

 nothing about ( 'arniola or the Carnio- 

 lans, made positive and absurd state- 

 ments regarding points they knew noth- 

 ing of, and grew personal and even 

 abusive. Thereupon the editor of the 

 Biitisli Bee Journal z\o%Q.A the discus- 

 sion without awaiting from me a reply 

 to the unjust imputations which one cor- 

 respondent of the Journal had hastily 

 made, although he doubtless knew that 

 I would not deign to reply in as dis- 

 courteous a manner. I do not, however, 

 think the whole matter has been per- 

 manently dropped, but, like many other 

 unpleasant things brought upon me by 

 earnest, though (as I have long felt)* in- 

 adequately rewarded efforts to introduce 

 valuable foreign races of bees and de- 

 velop the seniling of the same on long 

 journeys by mail, it will some day be set 

 right. Frank Benton. 



Washington, D. C. 



ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZATION. 



In the Report of the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture for the year 1885, on 

 pages 341 and 342, I. notice quite an 

 interesting description of some experi- 

 ments in the line of the artificial ferti- 

 lization of virgin queens. With your 

 permission I qiiote the following from 

 \h.t report of the Entomologist : 



"When the virgin queen was six days 

 old orgasm occurred and on the evening 

 of the seventh day we removed her from 

 the hive and placed drops of the male 

 sperm upon the open vulva as she was 

 held back downwards, by gently grasp- 

 ing the thorax between the thumb and 

 forefinger ... The male sperm vvas 

 pressed from the testes and seminal sack 



of a mature drone As much 



seminal fluid as could be obtained, by 

 the imperfect method employed, from 

 three or four drones, was utilized and 

 readily absorbed by the queen, after 

 which her wings were clipped and she 

 was dropped on a frame covered with 

 bees and returned to the hive, and the 

 bees were liberated. Up to this time 



