LAWS OF REPRODUCTION. 29 
sion of all from the following circumstance, which is 
another of the valuable discoveries due to the intro- 
duction of Italian bees. If the queen of the one breed 
is impregnated by the drone of another, it is only the 
workers of her progeny which turn out mongrels—the 
drones all retain the pure breed of the mother herself. 
Thus the introduction into an apiary of a single Italian 
queen is sure to be followed by the raising of pure 
Italian drones, and this circumstance may be turned to 
advantage by the intelligent bee-keeper in preserving 
the breed from speedy degeneracy. 
A few particulars may here be added to those 
which were given on this subject under the section 
on ‘‘The Drone.” The queen commences her wed- 
ding flights on the first fine day after she is two 
days old (many instances are later, but this is the 
date fixed by the best authorities). She will con- 
tinue them day after day until her object is achieved, 
but of this there will be very little hope if they are 
prolonged beyond four weeks. Dzierzon and Von 
Berlepsch state that they have met with positive 
instances of success up to a period of from thirty 
to forty-six days from birth; while they have known 
queens protract them, hopelessly after date, for a 
term of even three months. It is only during the 
first few weeks of her existence that she is capable 
of receiving impregnation, and if this brief limit is 
once overpassed, she is doomed to remain for life 
either utterly sterile or else a confirmed drone- 
breeder. It is a disputed point whether a virgin 
queen that has once commenced the breeding of 
drones can ever afterwards become a fertile mother. 
