NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY BEE. ii 



colony will become extinct. And, again, if for the sake 

 of experiment the Apiarian late in the autumn causes 

 the Bees of a hive to rear Queens, which can be easily- 

 done by removing their old Queen, there being no Drones 

 about, impregnation becomes impossible, and the young 

 Queen becomes a Drone breeder. These facts are said 

 to be taken advantage of by breeders of Ligurian 

 Queens, who contrive to keep Queens in their apiaries 

 who breed nothing but Drones, and so they have abun- 

 dance ready to fertilize late-bred Queens, when they 

 would otherwise naturally be unable to meet with a 

 mate. It is, however, a debatable point whether Drones 

 from an unimpregnated Queen can fertilize another 

 Queen. 



To dissect out the spermatheca of a Queen is an easy 

 task to any one who has a moderately delicate sense of 

 touch and a microscope. It is only necessary with a 

 couple of needles to separate the last two or three seg- 

 ments of the abdomen, and with the needles turn out 

 the contents on a slip of glass. With a magnifying 

 glass may now be found the little sac of a whitish-yellow 

 colour ; and with the assistance of a microscope this 

 should be placed on a small drop of warm water pre- 

 viously put on a clean glass slip, crushed with a needle 

 and immediately covered with a thin glass cover, now 

 under a quarter of an inch objective if the Queen was 

 impregnated, the characteristic contorted movements of 

 the spermatozoa may be seen in countless thousands, 

 forming a strange and wonderful sight. The sperma- 

 theca of a virgin Queen contains only a transparent 

 fluid. I have verified the impregnation of a Queen Bee 

 months after her decease by simply soaking her abdomen 

 in water for a few hours, when the spermatozoa was 

 easily found. My illustrious namesake, John Hunter, 



