(6) 



dence they furnish in support of the value 

 of restricted-mating weather is found id 

 the fact that the twenty-two matings at- 

 tributable to nearly a week of continuous 

 restricted-mating weather at the end of 

 July produced 27 per cent, more goldens 

 than the thirty-three matings attribut- 

 able to nearly two weeks of continuous 

 free-mating weather in August, the law 

 that July matings produce a smaller pro- 

 portion of goldens than August matings 

 having been, in these periods, overruled 

 by the weather. The fact that these 

 periods were preceded, separated, and fol- 

 lowed by periods during which no matings 

 were possible makes this result the more 

 reliable. 



Restricted-mating weather is an at- 

 tribute peculiar to the British climate. It 

 scarcely occurs in such great bee-keeping 

 countries as the United States, Italy, and 

 France. In England it reaches its best 

 on the coasts and in high localities. There 

 must be many good spots for restricted 

 mating in Scotland and Ireland. 



The 1909 figures also show how unre- 

 liable and sometimes misleading an in- 

 sufficient number of observations may be 

 in an investigation of this kind. 



LIST OF THE MATING DAYS AT RIPPLE COURT 

 APIARY IN 1909 AFTER JULY, 5, WITH THE 

 COLOUR RESULTS PROM THE 123 TESTED 

 QUEENS THAT APPEARED TO HAVE BEEN 

 MATED ON THESE DAYS. 



July 9 

 „ 13 

 „ M 

 ,. 17 

 „ 18 

 „ 19 

 „ 20 

 ■ . 27 

 ,. 28 

 „ 29 

 „ 31 



Aug.1 

 ,. 1 

 „ 5 

 ., 6 

 , 7 

 8*9 

 „ 11 

 ,. 12 

 „ 13 

 >. 1* 

 „ 15 

 „ 17 



„ 28 

 „ 29 

 Sep. 3 

 ,. 10 

 .„ 11 

 '., 12 



I, 



o 3 .2 



ag.§ 



Approximate pro- 

 portion of Golden- 

 Coloured and Inter- 

 mediate-Coloured 

 Workers Produced. 



fig 





• ojj 

 PI 



14 to 

 13 ,. 



27 , 



38 : 



33 

 30 

 52 . 



7 : 



40 

 46 



65 

 42 

 10 



6 



5 



!J54tol66{ (inF B 5 ! eathev) 



]7f 71t0 39 { (in B weather) 

 58 } 82 t0 118 {(in FB weather) 

 13 1 

 ^ 1 158 to 62 { (inte 7 w 2 i ther) 



] 25J 

 . 28^ 



■ 5S C 63t0 97 { (in FB weather) 



16 „ 14 

 26 „ 14 



36 ,,34 85 to 85 { (inF 5 ^ eather 



„ 10 J 



15 Queens, evi-"1 

 dently mated | 

 on these days, 

 1- commenced 

 laying on 

 various dates 

 in September. 



-140tol0{ (jn R 9 ^ at her) 



J 



F = Free mating weather. FE = Less free mating 

 weather. B = Restricted mating weather. 

 All the queens, except two, were bred 

 from parentages producing only golden- 



coloured workers. Ninety-three of the 

 queens were grand-daughters of "V" and 

 twenty-eight were grand-daughters of 

 "A" (see page 1). The conditions as re- 

 gards isolation and drone-breeding did not 

 differ materially from those in 1908. All 

 the drones were bred from golden-coloured 

 queens, and roughly about 80 per cent, of 

 them from queens producing only golden- 

 coloured workers. 



The proportion of goldens to inter- 

 mediates 'produced by each union could 

 only be approximately estimated; more- 

 over, it seemed to vary a little. Most of 

 the 1908 unions producing golden majori- 

 ties were re-tested by a more accurate 

 method in June, 1909; it was then found 

 that several of the 8 to 2 were nearer 7 

 to 3. The result from No. 55 (1908) 

 was unique; probably a second testing 

 would have shown it to be all goldens 

 or all intermediates. It may be observed 

 here that every year a few of the golden- 

 coloured queens bred from parentages 

 producing some goldens and some inter- 

 mediates had the scutellum and the tip of 

 the abdomen darker than in typical 

 golden-coloured queens and were evidently 

 heterozygous. 



Another question I set myself to inves- 

 tigate in 1909 was how far the greatest 

 degree of isolation obtainable would affect 

 results. Fdr this purpose five virgin 

 queens from parentages producing only 

 goldens, and two or three hundred drones 

 also from parentages producing only 

 goldens, were placed in baby-nuclei at 

 Hope Farm, a very isolated spot on 

 the open downs close to the sea-cliffs, 

 about midway between the villages of 

 Kingsdown and St. Margaret's Bay. 

 Careful inquiry in the neighbourhood 

 failed to reveal the existence of any 

 colonies of bees within a mile of Hope 

 Farm, and as the spot is rather more than 

 half surrounded by sea, it follows that 

 there were fewer bees by more than a 

 half living beyond that distance 

 than in an equally thickly populated dis- 

 trict inland. One of the queens appeared 

 to have mated on August 4 ; she produced 

 only intermediate-coloured workers. Two 

 more queens appeared to have mated on 

 August 7 ; one of them produced only 

 intermediates, the other produced one 

 golden to nine intermediates. The two 

 remaining queens appeared to have mated 

 on August 14 ; they both produced inter- 

 mediates only. Evidently none of these 

 queens mated with golden-coloured drones, 

 the extent of isolation not being nearly 

 sufficient to ensure pure mating. 



I do not know how far queens and 

 drones can fly — in America workers have 

 been observed to fly four to seven miles 

 in search of food* — but I would not rely 

 on isolation for pure mating anywhere iu 



* See Gleanings in Bee-Culture, vol. xxxvii., 

 page 577. 



