PARTHENOGENESIS 29 



and for a time it was hoped that enough queens could be mated 

 in this way for use in breeding experiments. However, after 

 numerous trials on the part of Prof. Jager, C. W. Howard, and 

 L. V. France, at the University, no further successful instances 

 have been reported. 



The A. I. Root Company tried some rather elaborate ex- 

 periments in getting queens mated in large greenhouses, but 

 these were likewise a failure. While enthusiasts have claimed 

 success at different times by one method or another, their 

 claims have generally been discredited, and up to the present, 

 there seems little prospect of artificial control of the mating. 

 About all that now seems possible, is to select isolated situa- 

 tions for the mating stations, or to limit the breeding of drones 

 as far as possible in undesirable colonies, and encourage it in 

 the colonies from which it is desirable to breed. 



Parthenogenesis. 



When the discovery was first made that unimpregnatcd 

 females often are capable of producing male offspring, the 

 public was slow to accept the fact. There was much discussion 

 of the subject for years before it was finally accepted as a settled 

 fact, rather common among insects. It is now well known 

 among beekeepers that queens which fail to mate will sometimes 

 lay a considerable number of eggs which will hatch, but all 

 will be drones. In the same manner fertile workers produce 

 drones which are usually smaller in size and inferior in appear- 

 ance, but some very careful observers are of the opinion that 

 they are quite capable of mating in the normal manner. 



Since the mating of a queen has no direct effect on her 

 male offspring, her workers may be hybrids, and her drones pure. 

 It is hardly within the scope of this little book to go into detail 

 concerning the proof of such well established facts as those 

 above stated. These may be found in detail in several of the 

 old text books. Those who are interested in pursuing the sub- 

 ject further are referred to Dadant's revision of Langstroth 



