impregnation of Queen. 93 
drone-laying queen. One queen, however, the past season, 
whose wing was clipped just as she came from the cell, 
and the entrance to whose hive was guarded by perforated 
zinc so the queen could not get out, was impregnated, and 
proved an excellent queen. Yet from a great number of 
experiments, I doubt if mating in confinement can ever be 
made practicable, even if desirable. And if Leuckart is 
correct in the above suggestion, which is very probable, it 
is not desirable. Some bee-keepers claim to have mated 
queens by hand. I have tried this thoroughly, as also mat- 
ing in boxes, queen-houses, etc., etc., and from entire lack 
of success, I believe such mating is impossible, at least with 
most bee-keepers. 
If the queen fails to find an admirer the first day, she 
will go forth again and again till she succeeds. Huber 
states that after twenty-one days the case is hopeless. Bevan 
states that if impregnated from the fifteenth to the twenty- 
first she will be largely a drone-laying queen. That such 
absolute dates can be fixed in either of the above cases is 
very questionable. Yet all experienced breeders know 
that queens kept through the winter as virgins are sure to 
remain so. It is quite likely that the long inactivity of the 
reproductive apparatus, especially of the oviduct and sper- 
matheca, wholly or in part paralyzes it, so that queens that 
are late in mating cannot impregnate the eggs as they desire. 
This would accord with what we know of other muscular 
organs. Berlepsch believed that a queen that commenced 
laying as a virgin could never lay impregnated eggs, even 
though she afterwards mated. Langstroth thought that he 
had observed to the contrary. 
If the queen be observed after a successful “ wedding 
tour,” she will be seen, as first pointed out by Huber, to 
bear the marks of success in the pendant drone appendages, 
which are still held in the vulva of the queen. 
It is not at all likely that a queen, after she has met a 
drone, ever leaves the hive again except when she leaves 
with a swarm. It has been stated that an old queen may 
be impregnated. I feel very certain that this is an error. 
If the queen lays eggs before meeting the drone, or if 
for any reason she fail to mate, her eggs will only produce 
