( 4 



Apiary. .No. 54 may have been a similai 

 case. Excluding Mo. 28, we get the re- 

 markable 'total of 134 goidens to only six 

 intermediates from the fourteen matings 

 in restricted weather, and 116 goidens to 

 only four intermediates from the twelve 

 matings after the middle of August, of 

 queens bred from a parentage giving all 

 goidens. 



Ripple Court Apiary is a very favour- 

 able spot for restricted mating. The sur- 

 rounding country is rather destitute of 

 trees, and is much swept by cool winds, 

 the prevailing north-easterly and south- 

 westerly winds both blowing off the open 

 sea, which is four and seven miles off 

 in these respective directions. Per- 

 fectly calm days are rare. On sunny 

 days in summer, when it is warm 

 inland, the maximum temperature is 

 generally about 5 deg. to 10 deg. lower 

 and the wind stronger than in warm 

 places inland. But there is more sun- 

 shine and the nights are warmer than 

 inland.* The apiary is now sheltered 

 from wind by a belt of trees and shrubs, 

 chiefly Austrian pine, goat willow, syca- 

 more, and lime, planted round it twelve 

 years ago. Whichever way the wind 

 blows, there is a sheltered area just out- 

 side the apiary, in which I believe many 

 queens are mated. 



No bees are kept within half a mile of 

 Ripple Court Apiary, and not many 

 within two and a half miles. The nearest 

 bees have been very little affected by the 

 Ripple Court Apiary drones, most of them 

 being still black, and no goidens have been 

 produced. The queens are mated in June 

 and early in July before many Ripple 

 Court Apiary drones are on the wing. 



As far as I have been able to observe, 

 most queens in Ripple Court Apiary are 

 mated between 12.30 and 2.30 p.m., this 

 being usually the warmest period of the 



* To give some idea of the difference in climate 

 between this coast and inland, the following figures 

 have been extracted from the " Weekly Weather 

 Report " of the Meteorological Office, 1906, Appen- 

 dix III. 



35 YEARS' AVERAGE TEMPERATURE. 

 July. August. 



Average \ Average 

 maximum. ; minimum. 

 Dungeness.. 67'1 U 56-0° 



Oxford 70-4° I 53'6 Q 



25 YEARS' AVERAGE SUNSHINE. 



July. August. 



Littlestone-on-Sea, ) 231 201 h 



near Dungeness ( 



Oxford 203 185 



On days that are warm and sunny inland the 

 difference in maximum temperature between Dunge- 

 ness and Oxford is generally much greater than 

 these figures show, but on cold, dull days Dunge- 

 ness generally has a higher maximum than 

 Oxford. Notice that at Dungeness August is 

 warmer than July, but at Oxford July is warmer 

 than August. . 



The excessive sunshine, warm nights, and 

 numerous wild flowers are very favourable for bee- 

 rearing. Humble-bees are abundant, and many 

 rare and tender species of solitary bees are to be 

 found in the neighbourhood. A new bee to 

 Britain, Sphecodes rubicundua, was discovered in 

 the grounds at Ripple Court in 1895, and another, 

 CAlisaa melanma, at St. Margaret's Bay in 1897. 



day. On August 28, 1907, 1 saw a queen, 

 aged twenty-one days, enter a hive, bear- 

 ing the signs of having just mated, as 

 early as 11.10 a.m. The temperature was 

 then 65 deg., with scarcely any wind and 

 a clear sty. The previous day was one of 



Diagram showing difference between a 



range of flight of 1 mile and one of 



i mile (440 yards). 



restricted flight, and it followed » long 

 period unfavourable for flight. 



The latest time of day I have seen a 

 queen fly was at 5 p.m., on July 16, 1906.* 

 There had been a very strong S.W. wind 

 for four days, but on this day it mode- 

 rated a little between 4 and 5 p.m., and 

 the temperature, which had been no 

 higher than .64 deg., rose to 65 deg. 

 About 5 p.m. I also saw a number of 

 drones circling and darting about in the 

 air only four or five yards to the leeward 

 of a colony in the apiary ; they continued 

 to do this for about five minutes, and 

 were evidently looking for queens. This 

 was an interesting case of extremely re- 

 stricted amorous flight, which was no 

 doubt fruitless, for no queens appeared to 

 have been mated on that day. 



In "free" mating weather a queen is 

 seldom or never mated before the second 

 day of flight. For a queen to be mated 

 in restricting weather the preliminary 

 flights usually extend over several days. 

 The ages at which most queens in the 

 tables (pages 1 and 2) were mated in 

 " free " weather were six days and nine days 

 after hatching'; none were mated before 

 the sixth day. In restricting weather most 

 queens were mated on the twelfth, thir- 

 teenth, and fifteenth days, and none be- 

 fore the twelfth day. Owing to an un- 

 usually prolonged period of unfavourable 

 weather in the early part of July, and to 

 another in the latter part of August and 

 beginning of September, many more queens 

 were mated after the fifteenth day in 1908 

 than in most years. 



To secure many cases of restricted 

 mating it is necessary that the weather 

 be seldom warmer than restricted mating 

 weather, because queens and drones are 

 very susceptible to a fall in temperature, 

 and would not fly at low temperatures if 



* It is possible that querns and drones might be 

 induced to fly late in the day after other drones 

 have retired by keeping the hives in a cool and 

 dark place— for instance, a cellar or well— until 

 afternoon. 



