THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



173 



and thus aid his nutrition and become 

 successful. In the bee we know that the 

 different kinds of individuals have dif- 

 ferent brains, and that different nutrients 

 produce different effects. And, further, 

 that the disposition of some colonies is 

 different from that of others. The diffi- 

 culties in studying this subject are many, 

 and only careful and continuons observa- 

 tion will allow us to come to conclusions 

 as to the cumulative effects. 



It is neither in accordance with the 

 teaching of telogony, nor of orthodox 

 bee lore, to suppose that the influence of 

 the drone will be manifested by any por- 

 tion of the male cell entering the egg 

 when deposited. Cheshire says of the 

 spermatazoon "Constant nutrition and 

 oxidation can alone be capable of sustain- 

 ing it to the last in the freshness it had 

 when first mtroduced to the spermatheca. ' ' 

 We also note that the spermatheca of the 

 queen being filled with liquid before 

 impregnation, presents an analogy to the 

 higher animals, where a liquid in the 

 female is necessary to maintain the vital- 

 ity of a much greater number of sperma- 

 tozooa so that one of them may impreg- 

 nate the ovum within fourteen days. 



If, therefore, the spermatozooa receive 

 nutrition from the queen, it is likely 

 that it must undergo constant renewal, in 

 which case it is not impossible that the 

 ovaries of the queen will be so affected 

 through the circulation as to m.ake a def- 

 inite effect upon drone eggs. 



Mr. Grimshaw of England was the 

 first to suggest nurse-influence, so far as 

 I am able to learn. 



I believe that the limitations of nurse- 

 influence, which I gave in March Review, 

 are such as will be indorsed by those who 

 are conversant with entomology. 

 MORK KXACTNESS NEEDED IN gUOTA- 

 TIONS AND CRITICISMS. 



Some of the points made by Editor 

 York, on pages 2ii and 212, are well tak- 

 en, but by reference to the March Re- 

 view it will be noticed that I did not re- 

 fer to 50, but to pages 51 and 52. The 

 editor would have done his readers bet- 



ter service if he had exactly quoted the 

 Europeans who held the opinions in 

 question. This also calls to mind the 

 fact that on page 189, American Bee 

 Journal, editor York credits me with the 

 general statement that only one man in 

 a million will be successful in inbreeding; 

 at least. Dr. Miller evidently took that 

 view of it (see Gleanings, page 275) 

 "Now when two such bright men as York 

 and Miller take this view," it ought to be 

 good evidence that I have done violence 

 to the English Language; but look on 

 page 41 of the Review, where it is only 

 necessary to read the heading to see that 

 I referred only to the establishment of 

 strains, races and breeds. Primarily, 

 there may be no difficulty in such a state- 

 ment, as most bee-keepers will under- 

 stand that it applied to bee-keepers — 

 who have yet to establish strains; and 

 not to breeders of domestic animals who 

 have always so established breeds that 

 the more intelligent breeders can, and in 

 some cases must, follow in their wake. 

 But such inaccurate quotations furnish 

 texts for the hair splitting, meddling 

 faultfinder, who feels sufficient unto 

 himself, and who delights in discussing 

 men rather than issues; especially those 

 who are not within the comprehension of 

 its specific line of thought. I look for no 

 super-natural knowledge on the part of 

 editors or others, but, in the eyes of the 

 public, an editor, or an associate or 

 sub- editor, is occupying a position of 

 importance which demands as much ac- 

 curacy and discrimination as any portion 

 of a business, and, therefore, an editor's 

 writings must have relatively more weight 

 than tho.se of an occasional correspon- 

 dent, to whom contributing is not an 

 essential part of his business. I therefore 

 only ask a keener discrimination by 

 which criticisms will be limited to those 

 articles to which the editor can give suf- 

 ficient attention to be accurate. 



REGRET THAT PERSON.\I. CONTROVERSY 

 SHOULD BE CALLED FOR. 



I regret that the kind criticism of my 

 friends should have caused sufficient 



