Sept. 8.— 65J deg. at 11.30, with light 

 S.W. wind; 66 deg. at 1 and 1.30, 

 with fresh S.W. wind; sunshine 

 interrupted between 12.20 and 

 12.30, and at intervals later. (R.) 

 The thermometer was exposed in windy 

 places in the shade outside the apiary; 

 the temperature inside the apiary was 

 generally about 1 deg. higher. Mr. S. 

 Miller has kindly allowed me to compare my 

 notes of sunshine with the records of his 

 self-registering instrument exposed at Deal . 

 The date a queen is stated to have been 

 mated was calculated as being two days 

 before the queen appeared to have begun 

 laying, except when that day was an un- 

 favourable one for queen-flight, and this 

 was the case only in September, in which 

 month some queens started laying several 

 days late, and a few, apparently fertilised, 

 did not lay at all. In many cases it was 

 not certain on which of two consecutive 

 days a queen began to lay.* The above- 

 listed mating days were, without excep- 

 tion, more favourable for flight than the 

 unmentioned days immediately preceding 

 and following them. 



Workers having the three basal seg- 

 ments of the abdomen clear yellow and 

 the middle of the fourth segment yellow 

 are classed as golden-coloured; those 

 having the three segments yellow and the 

 middle of the fourth black are also classed 

 as golden. Bright intermediates have 

 the abdomen coloured as in pure Cyprians, 

 medium intermediates as in ordinary pure 

 Italians, and dark intermediates as in a 

 cross between Italian and English bees. 



It was calculated that about 20,000 

 drones emerged towards the end of June 

 in Ripple Court Apiary, about 30,000 

 during July, and about 5,000 in August — 

 altogether about 55,000. Roughly, about 

 80 per cent, of these had the first 

 four segments yellow. The remainder 

 had only the first three segments 

 yellow, and were probably a kind of 

 bright intermediate; as such they would 

 transmit some black "blood." A few 

 dozen darker intermediate drones were 

 produced in June and July. In May a 

 few dozen black drones were produced 

 from intermediate-coloured queens, but 

 they were not seen in July or August. 



The above tables, together with the 

 records — unfortunately not preserved 

 complete — of matings ' from a number of 

 other hives in Ripple Court Apiary, and 

 in isolated spots near it, show that the 

 proportion of golden to intermediate bees 

 produced varies as the result of several 

 conditions. 



Firstly, golden queens, bred from a 

 parentage ("V") that gave all goldens, 



• It was only by taking tfiis fact into considera- 

 tion that a mating-day could always be found two 

 days earlier. In some of the 1909 cases it was 

 definitely ascertained that laying did not com- 

 mence until three days after mating. 



produced a larger proportion of goldens 

 than did golden queens bred from 

 parentages that gave some goldens and 

 some intermediates. The difference in 

 this, respect between the parentage " V " 

 and the parentage " C," which gave a 

 large proportion of intermediates, was 

 very noticeable in a comparison between 

 many queens of these two parentages 

 mated m August and September, 1908, 

 from other hives. 



Secpndly, queens mated in August and 

 September produced a larger proportion 

 of goldens than those mated in June and 

 July, This has been noticed for some 

 years, and I believe is due partly to the 

 fact that drones in normal colonies in 

 neighbouring apiaries are turned out to 

 die at the end of the honey-flow (while in 

 Ripple Court Apiary they are kept several 

 weejfs lpnger in colonies headed by vir- 

 gins, (fee, and by other means), and partly 

 to another cause to be explained later. 



Thirdly, a larger proportion of goldens 

 is produced from matings that take place 

 at a temperature of about 63 deg. on a 

 calm and sunny day, or in a slightly 

 higher temperature — .namely, about 



THE BRITISH GOLDEN BEE. 

 THE GOLDEN-COLOURED QUEEN ANH WORKER. 



64 deg. to 68 deg. — if there is wind, than 

 from those that take place in u, high tem- 

 perature — namely, about 70 deg. or more. 

 This interesting fact was also noticed in 

 1907 and in the 1908 matings from other 

 hives. The obvious reason for it is that 

 the lower temperature and wind so re- 

 strict the flight of queens and drones that 

 the drones of neighbouring apiaries can- 

 not reach the queens of Ripple Court 

 Apiary, these being mated close to Ripple 

 Court Apiary by Ripple Court Apiary 

 drones. It is evident that by selecting 

 queens that have been mated in such re- 

 stricting weather for testing and breed- 

 ing purposes we have succeeded in breed- 

 ing bees by selection. This fresh help in 

 breeding bees by selection is likely to 

 prove a valuable one. 



The fact that queen No. 28 ("V" 

 parentage), which was the only queen in 

 the apiary that appeared to have been 

 mated on August 27 (a very windy day), 

 produced a smaller proportion of goldens 

 than of intermediates is noteworthy. I 

 hardly doubt that this queen was mated 

 by a dark drone from Ripple Court 



