DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 17 



While none of the methods outlined have been of practical use in 

 queen breeding as yet, the instances of success in certain cases (as 

 claimed) should be suflQcient to encourage further trials and study. In- 

 deed, great benefit might be expected from any method that would 

 enable a queen breeder to practice definite selection of the drone as well 

 as the queen in mating merely his "breeding stock." 



II. Attempts, at Controlling Mating, Carried Out Under This Pro- 

 ject. 



Before the close of the season (1910) fourteen virgins were used in 

 numerous attempts to bring about mating with a particular, selected 

 drone in each attempt. The conditions under which these trials were 

 made follow : 



1. All the young queens were confined to nuclei of young worker 

 bees, before and after the tests, by Queen and Drone Excluders. Tests 

 were carried on before the window of a small canvass house on the 

 apiary grounds. Also, the virgins' wings were clipped when the test 

 would permit that. 



2. Alert drones were selected . from those caught (a few at a time) 

 at the hive entrance as they were taking flight, or just returning to the 

 hive. Then, they were kept on wing before the confining window until 

 needed. 



3. Virgin queens which were old enough for the mating flight — 

 usually those, 3 to 10 days old, that were attempting a flight were used. 



4. The trials v.ere made on hot, sunny days during that time of day 

 when most drones were flying and when it was found that the virgins 

 usually issued for the mating flight — 11 a. m., to 3 :30 p. m. 



5. The attempt was made in every case to bring the queen and drone 

 together face to face. 



Two methods of bringing the queen and drone together in the correct 

 position were attempted. By one method each bee was fastened at the 

 end of a fine, elastic wire holder (Fig. 1, p. 19) and then set to humming 

 the wings. The holders permitted such freedom as would induce the in- 

 sects to keep flying — or trying to fly ; yet, the operator might so direct the 

 movements of both queen and drone as to cause them to bump together, 

 on the wing, face to face. Only a comparatively few trials of this kind 

 were carried out. No case of mating was obtained, although the drones 

 often clutched the queens. One queen killed two drones in such at- 

 tempts. 



By the other method the operator endeavored — through squeezing the 

 drone — to evaginate the male organ into the vagina of the queen in the 

 normal position. A queen was held ventral side up between the thumb 

 and forefinger of the left hand; a drone was held dorsal side up, but 

 otherwise in the same manner by the right hand. As the insects were 

 brought face to face, the queen's dorsal and ventral genito-anal cover 

 shields were separated; the tip of the drone's abdomen was then in- 

 serted in the opening and his organ evaginated by skillful pressure of 

 the thumb and finger. The task proved to be a difficult one, since a 

 queen is very active with the tip of her abdomen and with her sting. 

 It was necessary, of course, to keep the sting pressed dorsalward dur- 



