THE ILLINOIS FA-RMEH. 



41 



THE API ARY. ; -.■. 



Cleveland Mbd. College, Jan. 28th, 1860. 



Mr. Dunlap — Bear Sir : While at- 

 tending the State and National Fairs in 

 Illinois last autumn, I found that many 

 of your people took a deep interest in the 

 management of the Honey Bee. The 

 inclosed article may not be adapted to 

 the tastes of all classes of your readers; 

 yet, to the entomologist and apiarian it 

 may aflford some important facts. It 

 embraces the substance of an article 

 which I read before the Cleyeland Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences. Very truly 



yours, J- I*' KiBTLAND. 



It is with no small degree of pleasure 

 that we lay this interesting paper on the 

 Honey Bee before our readers, and we 

 trust that they will profit by it. By 

 this it' will be seen, that to lessen the 

 number of drones in the hive is simply 

 to cut out the drone comb, and this is 

 easily done in the movable frame hive. 

 As the natural habits of this useful in- 

 sect becomes better known, we shall 

 , have an increase of its rich^products. — 

 Ed. 



Parthenoseneiisin Bees and Moths. 



Re»a before the Cleveland Academy of Natural Scienceg, by 

 Prof. J. p. Kirtland, M.D. 



Physiologists, in their investigations, 

 are wont to consider the mammalia as of 

 a higher order of creation, in^comparison 

 with certain other classes. 



As a consequence, they conclude that 

 the latter must, to a great extent, con- 

 form to the former, in their structure 

 and functions. The Creator, in his wis- 

 dom, has, however, constructed them 

 after types peculiar to themselves, and 

 adapted them for the fulfilment of duties 

 not appertaining to the former. 



The aphorism, "Zwema sine concuhi- 

 <w," a birth without a co-habiting, has 

 been generally viewed as untenable — an 

 impossibility. Facts to sustain its cor- 

 rectness have been gradually accumula- 

 ting, though they have hitherto been 

 disregarded, or received with much skep- 

 ticism by men of science. 



Minute investigation, aided by modern 

 improvements, with the microscope, have, 

 however, established the point beyond 

 contradiction, that individuals of a num- 

 ber of species of animate beings can, 

 under certain circumstances, be produced 

 or propagated sine concubitu. This 

 event may occur in three different ways, 

 to -wit: 1st. By Fissiparous re- produc- 

 tion. 2d. By Gemmiparous re-produc- 

 tion. 3d. Parthenogenesis. 



1st. Fissiparous re-production "takes 

 place only in polypi and in some infu- 

 soria. A cleft or fissure at some part 

 of the body takes place, very slight at 

 first, but constantly increasing in depth, 

 80 as to become a deep furrow, like that 

 observed in the yolk at the beginning of 



embryonic development. At the same 

 time, the contained organs are divided, 

 and become double ; and thus two indi- 

 viduals are formed of one, so similar to 

 each other, that it is impossible to say, 

 which is the parent and which the off- 

 spring. ( Vid. "Principles of Zoology," 

 by Agassiz and Gould, 1858, p. 157.) 



2d. Gemmiparous re-production. The 

 impregnated ova of the Aphis, or plant 

 louse, are deposited at the close of sum- 

 mer, in the axils of leaves of the plant 

 infested by the species, or some neigh- 

 boring plant; and the ova, retaining 

 their latent life through winter, are 

 hatched by the returning warmth of 

 spring; a winglesB^ hexapod larva is 

 the result of this development. This 

 larva, if circumstances, such as warmth 

 and food, be favorable, will produce a 

 brood, and indeed, a succession of eight 

 larvae, like itself, without any connection 

 with the male. In fact, no winged 

 males, at this season, have appeared. 

 If the virgin progeny be also kept from 

 any access to the male, each will again 

 produce a brood of the same kind of 

 Aphides ; and carefully prosecuted ex- 

 periments have shown, that this pro- 

 creation from a virgin mother will con- 

 tinue to the seventh, the ninth, or the 

 eleventh generation, before the spermat- 

 ic virtue of the ancestral coitus has 

 been exhausted. Wh«n it is so exhaust- 

 ed, a greater proportion of the nuelece 

 germ-matses, retained by the last pro- 

 creant larvae, is used up. Individual 

 growth and development proceed farther 

 than in the parent. Some members of 

 the last larval brood are metamorphosed 

 into winged males ; others into ovipar- 

 ous females. By these the ova are de- 

 veloped, impregnated and oviposited. 

 ( Vid. Owen's Parthenogenesis, p. 23.) 



This method is analagous, perhaps, to 

 the reproduction of vegetation from 

 buds, and both of these methods are 



referable to alternate generation. 



3d. By Parthenogenesis. A case of 

 true parthenogenesis is afforded under 

 certain circumstances, by the queen 

 honey bee, Apes mellefica, a ^^ Lucina 

 sine concubitu,^' — a birth without a co- 

 habiting of the two sexes. Nor is this 

 event confined exclusively to this insect, 

 but Seibold has observed it in the Psyche 

 helix Solenobia triquetrella and S. liche- 

 nella. It may probably occur with the 

 Cynips or Gad-Fly, other species of 

 Lepidoptera, and perhaps with some 

 species of the moUusci. Seibold has 

 demonstrated its frequently happening 

 with the queen bee, in the most clear and 

 satisfactory manner, in his recent work, 

 entitled "On a True Parthenogenesis in 

 Bees and Moths," a publication which 

 has not yet come before the American 

 public. For the details of his experi- 

 ments and observations, we must refer 

 the inquirer to that work. 



We will briefly add the following re- 

 marKs, to explain the outlines J of the 

 subject. In a colony of honey bees 

 may be found one queen, several hund- 

 red drones and some thousand workers. 

 The queen is the female, the drones are 

 males, and the workers are females 

 whose organs of reproduction are not 

 developed sufficiently to admit of pro- 

 ducing eggs. The virgin queen, within 

 three days after metamorphosing into a 

 perfect insect, leaves the hive, flies high 

 into the air in search of a drone, copu- 

 lates and returns to the hive, never again 

 to leave it, except to lead out a swarm. 

 This act of copidation makes its impress 

 on her for life, and is never repeated. 

 To the drone it is fatal. When the 

 queen left the hive, her virgin sperma- 

 totheca was small, and filled only with 

 mucous. On lier return, that cyst is 

 enlarged, and teems with myriads of 

 spermatozoa, precisely of the character 

 of those detected by Prof. Leidy, in the 

 seminal fluid of the drones. She now 

 will commence laying her eggs. Such 

 as are deposited in the larger or drone 

 cells, will hatch out males, and these 

 placed in the smaller, or worker cells, 

 will develop worker bees. If, however, 

 the virgin queen be confined in an ob' 

 serving hive at the time of her exit from 

 the pupa to the perfect insect, and for 

 three or four days subsequently, and 

 every drone be excluded from the colo- 

 ny, in that event she will commence de- 

 positing lier eggs as early as the fourth 

 day. These eggs will prove fertile, but 

 produce drones only. In a few days she 

 will become incapable of copulating, but 

 will continue to deposit hundreds of 

 drone eggs exclusively. Thus it will be 

 seen that, sine concubitu, she may, under 

 such circumstances, give birth to a nu- 

 merous male progeny, without ever hav- 

 ing met with a drgne. 



This, surely; is a case of true Parthe- 

 nogenesis, Lv^ina sine concvJbitu. The 

 eggs in the ovaries are unimpregnated, 

 but on passing down the ovaduct, may 

 or may not receive from the outlet of 

 the spermatotheca one or more sperma- 

 tozoa. In the one event, the queen will 

 produce workers, in the other drones. 

 Seibold, in a course of well conducted 

 experiments, found, invariably, sperma- 

 tozoa in the workers, producing eggs, 

 while those in drone cells were as inva- 

 riably destitute of those animalculse. 

 German investigators have detected in 

 hens' eggs, and those of certain other 

 insects, a peculiar structure, denomina- 

 ted mycropyle, adapted for the passing 

 of the spermatazoa into the egg at the 

 period of impregnation. Seibold sup- 

 poses that the queen bee has the volun- 

 tary power to lay an impregnated or 

 an unimpregnated one, as she deter- 

 mines. In this he is probably incor- 

 rect.-.. 



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