June 30, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



939 



shaft it is possible without variation in the 

 rate of rotation to make observations at the 

 very beginnings of phosphorescence and to 

 compare by simultaneous vision, the appear- 

 ances, just before and immediately after the 

 close of excitation, or on the other hand the 

 earlier with the later stages, up to about .004 

 second. The photometer, spectroscope, spec- 

 trophotometer, camera, etc., may all readily be 

 used with this form of phosphoroscope and 

 studies of the most varied character become 

 possible. 



The instrument has already been employed 

 in various determinations, some of the results 

 of which have been reported elsewhere. 



To study the change of color during the de- 

 cay of phosphorescence in the case of certain 

 sulphides, color photographs^^ by the Lumiere 

 process were taken, first of the glowing surface 

 as it appeared through the sectored disk at full 

 speed and* then for comparison with the disk 

 revolving very slowly. 



To determine the effect of temperature the 

 tube containing the sulphide was mounted 

 within a cylindrical dewar bulb, and the lower 

 end cooled to the temperature of liquid air. By 

 keeping the upper end of the tube at -|- 20° C. 

 a sharp temperature gradient along the axis of 

 the tube was maintained and the very striking 

 changes of color when the substance, under 

 these circumstances, was excited to phosphores- 

 cence were photographically recorded. 



Spectroscopic comparisons of the spectrum 

 of the light emitted by the uranyl salts during 

 fluorescence and at various stages during 

 phosphorescence have been made with this 

 phosphoroscope'" and it has been found espe- 

 cially well adapted to the determination of the 

 decay of phosphorescence in cases where, as in 

 that of the uranyl salts, the entire process occu- 

 pies only a few thousandths of a second. 



Edward L. Nichols, 

 H. L. Howes 



Physical Labokatost op 

 Cornell University, 

 May, 1916 



15 Paper read at the April meeting of the Amer- 

 ican Philosophical Society, 1916. 



16 Nichols, Proc. Nat. Acad, of Sciences, 1916. 



SCIENTIFIC QUEEN REARING 



Having been engaged for several years in 

 practical breeding of thoroughbred queens for 

 commercial use, and realizing the certainty 

 and definiteness of results if " Mendel's laws of 

 heredity could be applied to bee breeding, I 

 undertook to determine, if possible, the man- 

 ner in which some of the most valuable traits 

 of the different races of bees were transmitted 

 through heredity, with the idea of combining 

 in one strain of bees those qualities of recog- 

 nized desirability, such as hardiness, prolific- 

 ness, longevity, length of tongue and wing ex- 

 panse. Color also was brought under observa- 

 tion as a means by which segregation could be 

 more readily seen if it occurred in the second 

 filial generation, as observed by Mendel in coat 

 color of peas when a green-seeded variety was 

 crossed on a yellow-seeded sort, in his experi- 

 ments with the garden pea. 



I was therefore much interested to see that 

 Professor Newell, of College Station, Texas, 

 was working along the same lines.'^ The con- 

 elusions at which he arrives, in some instances, 

 do not accord with the facts brought out in a 

 series of breeding tests that were conducted to 

 determine certain (the same) characteristics. 



Dzierzon was the first, I believe, to point out 

 that drones were of the same zygotic constitu- 

 tion as the mother alone, and were produced 

 parthenogenetically, the correctness of which 

 is supported by some very convincing evidence, 

 obtained by other reliable experimenters in the 

 same field. Professor Newell says: 



Pure Italian queens mated to Caruiolan drones 

 produce only Italian drones, and Carniolan queens 

 mated to Italian drones produce only Carniolan 

 drones. This is strictly in accordance with the 

 theory of Dzierzon, the daughters of Italian 

 queens which have mated to Carniolan drones pro- 

 duce both Italian and Carniolan drones, produce 

 them in equal numbers, and do not produce any 

 other kind. (?) This is in accordance with the 

 theoretical expectation under Mendelian law. (?) 



iSee "Inheritance in the Honey Bee," Sci- 

 ence, N. S., No. 1049, pages 218-219, February 

 5, 1915. 



