552 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



feetly, in color, size and characteris- 

 tics, tliat no expert could distinguish 

 them from pure Italians. Another 

 portion of tliem still resembled the 

 Egyptian bees, showing a black body 

 covered with a grayisli pubescence, 

 and manifesting the constitutional 

 characteristics of tlie Egyptians. 

 These observations led me to suppose 

 that, probably ages ago, the Italian 

 bee may have originated from a cross 

 of the black bee with the Egyptian. 

 I communicated this conjecture to 

 Dr. Gerstaker of Berlin^ and other 

 friends. The latter received the sug- 

 gestion with great disfavor, regard- 

 ing it as derogatory and dishonoring 

 the Italian bee, and it required no in- 

 considerable labor to convince them 

 that the conjecture had no reference 

 whatever to any supposed value or 

 want of value of any variety of the 

 honey bee, but was of a purely scien- 

 tific nature ; and that one variety 

 miglit, in economic value still rank 

 high above another, though it be 

 clearly demonstrated to be of hybrid 

 origin. Dr. Gerstaker informed me 

 that he was unable to distinguish the 

 workers produced by a cross of the 

 black bee with the Egyptian, from the 

 pure Italian workers "; but that I had 

 assigned no reason for my hypothesis, 

 and that the geograpical distribution 

 of the honey bee militated against it. 

 I then again carefully studied the ex- 

 cellent little treatise by Dr. Gerstaker, 

 on " The Geographical Distribution 

 of the Honey Bee," and found that 

 the geographical distribution of the 

 races furnished no conclusive argu- 

 ments either for or against my views. 

 Here the idea occurred to me that the 

 conjecture would attain to the high- 

 est degree of probability, if a hybrid 

 queen of the second or third genera- 

 tion should be found to produce 

 drones which could not be distin- 

 guished from Italians. Impatiently 

 did I await the return of spring. The 

 drones linally made tlieir appearance 

 and diverged likewise in two direc- 

 tions; one portion could not be dis- 

 tinguished from Italian drones, while 

 another portion resembled the Egyp- 

 tian drones in size, but having black 

 bodies with grayish pubescence. I 

 then raised young queens from an 

 Egyptian hybrid queen of the second 

 degree of degeneration, and arranged 

 to have them fertilized by drones de- 

 rived from the sauie mother, but bear- 

 ing Italian markings. Tlie workers 

 produced by tliese queens resembled 

 tlie Italians, while the drones diverged 

 in tlie two directions adverted to. I 

 now proceeded to breed in and in from 

 the hybrids thus obtained, and in the 

 third and fourth generations all the 

 drones bore the Italian markings. It 

 might here be objected that, on ataval 

 principles, these hybrids must revert 

 to their distinct parental or primal 

 races, as is the case with hybrids of 

 the black bee and the Italians. But I 

 have now before me black Egyptian 

 hybrids of the nineteenth generation, 

 and these still retain their cliaracter- 

 istic markings unchanged alike in 

 queens and drones and workers, 

 though rather intensified in degree 

 and permanence. Firmly established, 

 therefore, do I regard this fact— from 



a cross of the black bee with the 

 Egyptian, a hybrid is produced which 

 no man can distinguish from the 

 Italian bee. 



jSTow what do these observations 

 teach ? For brevity's sake I will ex- 

 press the question thus : Did Divine 

 Omnipotence, when placing the ani- 

 mal creation upon the earth provide 

 in each case only one primitive pair; 

 or did He create each race at once in 

 larger groups V And if the latter, 

 were all the animals of the same class 

 perfectly alike as regards size and 

 color? Or did (iod create directly 

 the different races of the honey bee V 

 When we reflect that no mortal eye 

 witnessed the grand act of creation, 

 and further consider that no reply 

 can be deduced from any known laws 

 of nature, tliey may be regarded as 

 highly presumptuous. But the arro- 

 gance apparently involved in them 

 vanishes at once, when I state that I 

 have not deduced the re))!y from my 

 own mental cogitations, but from facts 

 with which I became acquainted when 

 crossing the common black bee with 

 the Egyptian. My observations con- 

 strained me to accept two primitive 

 races for the honey bee. A portion of 

 each of tliese races certainly existed 

 since the dawn of history, and these 

 I denominate original "or primary 

 races. In the course of time others 

 arose from the crossing or intermix- 

 ture of the primary races, and these I 

 call derivative or "secondary races, or 

 varieties. The black bee and the 

 Egyptian I regard as primary races. 

 The Italians, Cecropians, Syrians, 

 Chinese, etc., etc. — "who can count 

 tlie peoples i* who name their names ?" 

 all these are nothing more than the 

 hybridous product springing from the 

 two original races— mere derivative 

 or secondary races. I venture to say 

 that if all these mixed products be 

 entirely removed, leaving me only the 

 pure black bee and the pure Egyp- 

 tian, I could speedily reproduce any 

 desired secondary race, by crossing 

 those two primaries. Possibly, the 

 strikingly black honey bee of Mada- 

 gascar may yet prove to be another 

 primary race. 



o. Crossing the Italian bee and 

 THE Eoyptian.— What has hitherto 

 been said is of subordinate import- 

 ance, so far as regards the production 

 of an improved breed; because it re- 

 fers only to the color or markings, 

 which it may be thought desirable to 

 give to the improved breed. But of 

 liigher and more practical importance 

 is the solution of the questions, is the 

 constitutional temperament of one 

 race transmissible to another V And 

 if so, is this to be effected by means 

 of the queen or drone 'i or, again, do 

 the constitutional properties of the 

 two races or varieties become so com- 

 mingled or melted into each other by 

 the cross, that new and special con- 

 stitutional properties are the results 

 In breeding we have hitherto relied 

 mainly on the queen. We said—" this 

 is a choice, populous colony, with a 

 fine prolific queen, therefore, we must 

 use some of its blood for raising 

 queens." But I do not believe that 

 ill the endeavor to procure an im- 

 proved breed, it is sufficient to have 



regard only for the qualities of the 

 queen. According to my observa- 

 tions, those of the drone, too, must be 

 taken into account. 



In order to accumulate facts, it be- 

 came necessary to cross the Italian 

 bee with the Egyptian, because these 

 two are the exact counterparts of 

 each other, as regards constitutional 

 characteristics— the Egyptians having 

 a fiery temperanient, while the Italian 

 is of a placid and gentle disposition. 

 The first inquiry was : Does the tem- 

 perament reside in the seminal fila- 

 ment, or in the egg V In other words, 

 is the seminal filament the germ of 

 the young bee, or is the egg '/ 



When first the seminal filaments 

 were discovered in the generative 

 fluid, it was tliought that each was 

 the incipient genu of a nascent crea- 

 ture, and that the young animal is 

 nothing more than a fully developed 

 seminal filament. Accordingly, it was 

 assumed that the egg only contained 

 the requisite nutriment for the suste- 

 nance and development of the semi- 

 nal filament. Now, if this were in 

 reality the germ of the nascent crea- 

 ture, the constitutional properties 

 must be inherent in the drone. But 

 every bee breeder is aware of the fact 

 that an unimpregnated queen lays 

 eggs which produce drones exclus- 

 ively ; and he further knows that 

 worker bees occasionally lay eggs from 

 which living creatures are developed, 

 and that these are invariably drones. 

 From these facts it is evident that the 

 egg contains the germ of the young 

 bee. Let us now inquire what ob- 

 servations and experiments further 

 teach. I crossed pure Egyptian queens 

 with Italian drones. In tlie hybrid 

 progeny, the constitutional properties 

 —tlie temperanient— of the Egyptian 

 seemed completely obliterated, as it 

 were, and those of the Italian substi- 

 tuted. I next crossed the Italian 

 queens with Egyptian drones, and 

 the progeny displayed the Egyptian 

 characteristics wholly. Hence, it was 

 manifest that the temperament of the 

 bee resides in the seminal filament. 

 Accordingly, in our endeavors to pro- 

 vide an improved breed, our atten- 

 tion must be pre-eminently directed 

 to the drones by which the selected 

 queen is to be fertilized. We come 

 now to the question whether drones 

 possess diversities of temperament, 

 but the elucidation of this branch of 

 our topics would occupy too much 

 time at present. I may perhaps have 

 occasion hereafter to discuss it. 



Some may dissent from the views I 

 have here expressed, but we cannot 

 disagree in our object, namely, by 

 steadfast endeavor and close scrutiny 

 to attain to the knowledge of the 

 trutii wliicli the Omniscient has em- 

 bodied in this very diminutive mem- 

 ber of animated nature— the honey- 

 bee. 



Kow, as Vogel has proved beyond a 

 doubt that the yellow race of bees is 

 not a primary race, but has been pro- 

 duced in all its varieties by crosses 

 between the Egyptian and black bees, 

 it makes it easy to see why the Italian 

 is so gentle and so prone to run out 

 into tlie black bee. The Egyptian 

 bee was probably brought into Europe 



