720 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vou XL. No. 1037 



cerning the absolute inefficiency of the " flash " 

 method. The harm it may do by giving the 

 people a sense of false security is also self- 

 evident. In the remaining epidemics the milk 

 was consumed raw. It vrould seem that our 

 only safeguard against such epidemics is effi- 

 cient pasteurization not only of the milk and 

 cream, but also of the material entering into 

 the manufacture of other milk products. It 

 is a point of some importance that it is not 

 uncommon for firms to sell pasteurized milk, 

 but to sell cream in the raw state. The latter 

 of course may be even more dangerous than 

 milk. 



The question as to what constitutes efficient 

 pasteurization for streptococci is one that evi- 

 dently requires further study. It is commonly 

 stated in the literature that pathogenic strep- 

 tococci are killed at relatively low tempera- 

 tures (52°-54° C. for 10 minutes Sternberg). 

 Undoubtedly for many strains this is alto- 

 gether too low. The recent work of Ayers and 

 Johnson^ indicates that the thermal death 

 point of typical streptococci varies consider- 

 ably and one of 22 strains studied by them re- 

 sisted heating for 30 minutes at 62.8° C. 

 (145° F.), the usual temperature for pasteur- 

 izing. Furthermore, their viability in milk 

 and milk products should be carefully studied 

 since we know the media may exert an impor- 

 tant effect on the resistance of organisms to 

 heat. The pasteurization process may there- 

 fore have to be modified accordingly to meet 

 these demands. 



David John Davis 



Laboratory of Experimental Medicine, 

 Univeesity op Illinois, 

 Chicago 



THE artificial FERTILIZATION OF QUEEN BEES 



In July last, the senior writer called the 

 attention of the junior writer to the desirabil- 

 ity of attempting some work in bee culture, 

 with the object of securing pure-bred queens. 

 One of the lines of work decided upon was that 

 of artificial fertilization of queens. In spite 

 of the lateness of the season, it seemed advisa- 

 ble to begin work at once and eight newly 



8 Jour, of Agricultural Besearch, 1914, 2, p. 321. 



emerged queens were secured before the end 

 of the queen-producing season. 



In six of the experiments, we suffered fail- 

 ures from natural causes; robber bees killed 

 three and the workers refused to accept three. 

 In a seventh case, the queen died as a result 

 of an infection probably set up at the time 

 of fertilization. 



In an eighth experiment, apparent success 

 seems to have followed artificial fertilization, 

 and whatever the nature of this may be, it 

 seems of sufficient interest to be recorded, 

 awaiting, in the meantime, the next season for 

 further attemps at confirmation. This queen 

 emerged from her cell on July 23, 1914. Both 

 wings were so rudimentary as to be almost 

 unnoticeable. She was kept in a 3-frame 

 nucleus, in which no drones were present and 

 with a queen excluder applied to the entrance. 

 On July 28, the seminal vesicles and sperma- 

 tophore of a drone, which was captured in 

 flight near one of the hives, were dissected out, 

 teased apart, and contents diluted to facilitate 

 manipulation. The fluid containing sjierma- 

 tozoa was then carefully injected through the 

 genital opening of the queen. After this was 

 done she was replaced in a queenless and 

 droneless nucleus with queen-excluder applied 

 to the hive. 



By August 4, the ovaries showed consider- 

 able development, as indicated by the size of 

 the abdomen, and on August 18 she began to 

 deposit eggs, continuing to do so up to the 

 time of writing, although normal queens had 

 ceased to lay eggs for about a month. This 

 was due probably to the stimulation given this 

 swarm by feeding. To date, at least 3,000 eggs 

 have been laid. The remarkable thing is that 

 all the eggs have produced worker bees ex- 

 cept four, which produced drones. In every 

 respect the brood, capping of the cells, and the 

 resulting worker bees are perfectly normal. 



At present, the swarm is being strengthened 



and prepared for winter, so that studies of this 



remarkable queen may be continued next 



season. _ _ 



Francis Jager, 



0. W. Howard 



Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 University of Minnesota 



