1878. 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



4o.^ 



circling riglit up in the air, we have, until 

 lately, supposed that fertilization took ])lace 

 above the ken of human eyesight. This Ir.is 

 recently been shown to be a mistake, I think. 

 After a successful flight, she returns with the 

 organs of the drone remaining attached to 

 her body. See droxes. This is a white 

 substance, and is frequently so large as to 

 be plainly seen while she is on the wing. I 

 should think a queen is usually gone half an 

 hour, but I have seen them return fertilized 

 after an absence of not more than 10 or 1") 

 minutes. This accomplished, she goes qui- 

 etly into tlie hive. The bees are much in- 

 clined to chase after her, and they some- 

 times pull at the protruding substance, as if 

 they would drag it away, but I am inclined 

 to think it is eventually absorbed into the 

 body of the queen. In looking at her the 

 day after, all the trace of it you will observe, 

 will be possibly a shriveled thread. In one 

 day more, you will, as a general rule, find 

 her depositing eggs. I presume the average 

 age at which our queens are laying, is about 

 9 days ; we generally wait 10 days from the 

 date of hatching, and are then pretty sure 

 of finding them ready to send off. Between 

 the fertilization and the time the first egg is 

 laid a remarkable change takes place. Af- 

 ter the queen has been out and fertilized, 

 her appearance is much the same as before. 

 She runs and hides when the hive is opened, 

 and looks so small and insignificant, 

 one would not think of calling her a fer- 

 tile queen. A few hours before the first egg 

 is laid, however, her body increases remark- 

 ably in size, and, if an Italian, becomes 

 lighter in color, and instead of running 

 about as before, she walks sloAvly and se- 

 dately, and seems to have given up all her 

 youthful freaks, and come down to the so- 

 ber business of life, in supplying the cells 

 with eggs. 



THE MEETING BETW^EEN THE QUEPZN AND 

 DRONE. 



Within the past year of 1878, many new 

 facts have Ijeen furnished in regard to the 

 matter. It seems that the drones soon spy 

 out the queen as she is circling about among 

 them, and pursue her, much in the Avay you 

 have seen bumble bees chase each other 

 about in the air. As the queen starts out, 

 she curves her body backward in rather an 

 unusual way, as you see by the cut of the 

 queen upon the wing. I have long supi)osed 

 that there was some especial purpose in 

 this, and recent events seem to corroborate 

 the idea. The meeting of the two insects 

 takes place Avhile they are on the wing, and 



as they are always seen whirling rapidly 

 about each other, it seems rather difficult to 

 determine, just how fertilization is accom- 

 plished, unless the bodies of both are curved 

 considerably out of the usual position. The 

 drone, probably, takes much the attitude 

 of a worker bee, in the act of using his 

 sting, the peculiar curve of the lower jiart 

 of the queen's body favoring this. Tlie act 

 accomi)lished, both insects use their Avings 

 in such a way that they revolve in opposite 

 directions, and the separation is tlius effect- 

 ed in nuich the same way as a worker bee 

 withdraws his sting, when allowed to do so 

 at his leisure, by twisting around continu- 

 ously, as if he was unscrewing it from a 

 board. The organ of the drone is so firndy 

 implanted in the body of the queen, that it 

 is torn from his body, with all attachments, 

 very like the way in which a bee loses his 

 sting. It has been stated that the drone ex- 

 pires with a sudden contracting of his body, 

 as if he was struck by lightning. I am in- 

 clined to tliink this a mistake, and that he 

 sometimes crawls about a minute or more, 

 and doubles up as he dies, as a queen or 

 worker does. I would be glad of reports 

 from those who have witnessed these phe- 

 nomena, that I may make corrections in 

 what I have stated, if I have got anything 

 wrong. Nature, to make sure the drone or- 

 gan is not withdrawn, has furnished a won- 

 derful piece of mechanism, that comes into 

 play at just the right moment. I will try 

 and explain it to you. Under the article 

 DRONES, I mentioned to you that if the body 

 of a drone is pressed in a certain way, just 

 as he is leaving the hive, the body will 

 sometimes burst open, in a manner some- 

 thing like the popping of corn, throwing out 

 the male organ. Suppose you take the fin- 

 ger to a glove, and push in tlie tip, as if you 

 were going to turn it inside out; well, now 

 if you should blow forcibly in the glove, or 

 even comi)ress the finger when full of air, 

 this tip would be violently thrown outward. 

 It is supposed tlrat the body of a drone is 

 formed something in this way, and the ex- 

 trusion of the organ is occasioned by a pow- 

 erful muscidar contraction of the rings 

 composing his body, Avhile under the infiu- 

 ence of such strong excitement. "Well, now 

 suppose we liken the body of the queen to 

 another glove finger, having a transverse 

 cut across the end of it. This slit is deep 

 enough to allow the body of the queen to 

 open in two parts ; and the opening is capa- 

 ble of being extended to nearly the whole 

 size of the body of the queen. When the 



