8 



We decided to rear a number of queens and mate them in 

 the home apiaries where the queens would have every chance 

 of mating with alien drones- The observation hives were 

 stocked with pure races of bees and queens, but later the 

 queens were removed and ripe queen cells given. In the 

 observation hive containing the British race we observed 

 Italian drones had gained admittance and had been accepted 

 as permanent residents in the hive. We also noticed in other 

 observation hives a casual stranger. This led us to make a 

 close inspection of those nuclei with virgin queens, and where 

 alien drones were noticed a record was made. Examination 

 later in the season, when (lie young queens were laying, 

 revealed that in 5 per cent, of the nuclei the progeny were 

 related to the alien drones, while in the remaining hives pure 

 mating had been accomplished. 



By observations in the late autumn on colonies of bees 

 in possession of virgin queens we had further proof of this 

 feature of mating. Such colonies continued to give sanctuary 

 to their own drones, and we found also that a queenless colony, 

 would actually keep drones all through the winter, evidently 

 in response to the instinct to preserve them for the mating of 

 the needed queen. ■ In colonies with mated queens only a few 

 feet away all drones were destroyed ; if mating usually takes 

 place with drones from another colony, we should expect 

 colonies with mated queens to keep drones for this purpose. 



Conclusion. 

 Our experiments tend to show that, provided no other drones 

 are admitted to a colony of bees, the virgin queen will mate 

 with her own drones, and it is therefore possible to bring 

 about pure mating or the crossing of queens with any other 

 variety of the same type. 



I desire to place on record my appreciation of the assistance 

 I have received from my two colleagues, Mr. William Hamilton 

 and Mr. James Struthers, without whose help it would have 

 been impossible to conduct the experiment. 



