THE JtMERICSPtlvf BEU JOURNSX. 



480 



in my last annual report, namely, that 

 drone, bees differ in degrees of pro- 

 creative n ess, properly classified as the 

 impotent, the conditionalh' potent, and 

 the potent ; and that it is the preroga- 

 tive of the worker-bees to determine 

 the degree of development, and domi- 

 nate the function of the drones as thej' 

 determine the kind and degree of de- 

 velopment of instinct and organism, 

 and dominate the functions of the 

 <iueen. 



The volition of the queen determines 

 the sex of every one of her descend- 

 ants ; but the life of every individual, 

 as well as the modifications in organ- 

 ism and instinct, depends upon and 

 receives its direction from the worker 

 bees, whose unerring prescience for- 

 bids the rearing or maintaining of in- 

 dividuals for whose services there ex- 

 ists no present or prospective demand. 

 It is only when this keen apprension 

 of the,present and prospective condi- 

 tions of environment indicates a neces- 

 sity for rearing and maturing potent 

 or potentially potent individuals that 

 such are reared and matured and fur- 

 nished for the functions the}' are to 

 perform. 



Under circumstances unfavorable in 

 the extreme, a condition' of seeming 

 prosperity may be artificially produced, 

 and drones numerically plentiful may 

 be reared and preserved alive. It has 

 taxed my skill and patience to the last 

 degree during the past season to do 

 this. I resorted to every strategem I 

 could devise to secure a supplj" of ma- 

 ture drones, but in most cases the 

 workers were either unable or unwill- 

 ing to supply the drone larvre with 

 food suitable in kind and quantitj-, for 

 a large proportion of the drones were 

 dwarfed. Dissection showed the sex 

 organs of this sort to be inferior in 

 size, dry, and empty. 



Not one drone in one hundred of 

 those which were fully developed, 

 when held b)- the legs or wings, or 

 when pressed upon the thorax, were 

 able to perform the expulsion act, and 

 the sex organs of such, with rare ex- 

 ception, contained nothing but a little 

 clear, tliin mucous. I have during the 

 past season at various times examined 

 the contents of the sex organs from 

 scores of drones well developed and 

 structurally perfect of the class which 

 I believe to be potentially potent, in 

 which I have not been able to discover 

 active spermatozoa, nor was the mucous 

 secretion present of that color and 

 consistency which I believe to be the 

 product of special feeding, and indis- 

 pensable to sexual desire, and for lib- 

 erating and floating the spermatozoa 

 into the spermatheca. 



Without wi.shing to appear dogmatic, 

 after another season exceptionally fa- 

 vorable for such observation and ex- 



perience as has furnished more com- 

 plete data and conciborative evidence, 

 I venture to reassert nij' belief as set 

 forth substantially in my last annual 

 report, that tlic preparation for and 

 exercise of the reproductive faculty in 

 drone bees, as well as in queens, de- 

 pends upon and is determined by the 

 workers. As with the queen, so with 

 the drone, desire and capacity wait 

 upon the will and resources of the 

 workers. 



As the queen must be bountifully 

 supplied with egg-food before the egg- 

 cells begin to germinate and mature in 

 the ovaries, so I believe the drone 

 must be well supplied with that special 

 food suited and intended to produce 

 the desire and capacity for performing 

 the act of copulation, the giving and 

 withholding of which is instinctively 

 determined by the worker bees, as the 

 present and prospective condition de- 

 mands. 



Throughout the past season of ex- 

 treme heat and protracted drouth there 

 was almost a total failure of all nat- 

 unil resources, and all the influences 

 of nature to which bees are subject, 

 warned them that there was no actual 

 necessity for feeding and maturing 

 drones, and that the abundance and 

 prosperity with which I had supplied 

 them were artificial and deceptive. 



In the impotency of the drones, al- 

 mo.st universally prevalent, I find the 

 reason for the almost total failure of 

 this experiment. The fact that both 

 drones antl (pieens flew with freedom 

 and regularity it the cage, and the fact 

 that in a few cases queens were suc- 

 cessfully mated in the cage when but 

 few were successfully mated outside, 

 leads me to believe that under favor- 

 able conditions satisfactorj- success 

 may be expected. Experiments in 

 breeding bees during the prevalence 

 of such climatic conditions as those of 

 the past season, are attended with 

 hindrances which I have not been able 

 to overcome. My experience and ob- 

 servation have suggested some changes 

 in the size, shape, and manner of con- 

 structing the cage which I believe 

 would be an improvement. If, under 

 favorable circumstances, the control of 

 the process of reproduction can be 

 secured by the use of a device perma- 

 nent in kind, and of moderate cost, 

 then ever}' queen-breeder and pro- 

 gressive bee-keeper may apply the 

 laws of heredity, and the principles of 

 selection to the breeding of bees with 

 assurance of realizing results alike in 

 kind and degree to those which have 

 by the persistent application of the 

 same laws and principles been realized 

 in breeding all kinds of domestic ani- 

 mals. 



I have, by establishing mating sta- 

 tions in localities remote from other 



bees, secured the nxating of queens 

 and drones selected on account of their 

 excellent paternity and perfect de- 

 velopment. I controlled the flight of 

 the difterent varieties by the use of 

 queen-excluding zinc. 



By crossing selected individuals of 

 difl'erent varieties, and by mating se- 

 lected bees of the same variety avoided 

 in breeding. 1 have laid the foundation 

 for some ancestral stock of superior 

 excellence. This kind of work re- 

 ([uires much patience and persistence 

 during such a season as that just 

 ended. I have begun many other ex- 

 periments, many of which failed, and 

 others, lacking in completion, require 

 no mention here. 



Hin.sdale, Ills., Dec. 31, 1887. 



BEE-CULTURE. 



Bees, llicir Functions, Habits, 

 Uses and Products. 



Written for the Americnti, Scientist 



BY GEORGE H. HASTINGS. 



In the oldest writings mention is 

 made of the bee, hone}', and the 

 honey-comb, and a land flowing with 

 milk and honey. From this we infer 

 that the common honey-bee has been 

 known since the dawn of civilization, 

 and that it is of Asiatic origin. 



This insect has been the theme of 

 many writers. Volumes have been 

 and are being published, and there 

 are journals devoted wholly to this 

 subject. 



Bee-culture possesses a fascination 

 peculiar to itself. The study of any 

 other species of the animal kingdom 

 cannot equal it. This is due, in a 

 measure, to the many superstitions 

 with which it was regarded. To-day, 

 even, there are many people who be- 

 lieve that when a bee-owner dies, some 

 member of the family must communi- 

 cate this intelligence to the bees by 

 rapping on the hive. You will be in- 

 terested in reading a poem by Whit- 

 tier, entitled, ■' Telling the Bees." 



In tlie ISth century, Huber, a Swiss 

 naturalist, who became blind at the 

 age of 15, published many articles on 

 the natural history of the honey-bee. 

 These writings are' the first to tell the 

 truth, and are quite remarkable, con- 

 sidering the way in which the experi- 

 ments and observations were made. 



If a i)rosperous colony be examined 

 in June, there will be found three 

 kinds of bees, viz., the qneen, the 

 workers, and the drones, also three 

 kinds of cells. Two of these will be 

 horizontal and hexagonal, and will 

 dirter in size only. The smaller is the 

 worker-cell, the larger the drone-cell. 

 The third cell is much larger than the 



