190 Beekeeping 



or male offspring is pure Italian. This fact is important to 

 the breeder, for drones from mismated queens are Just as 

 good for breeding purposes as those from purely mated 

 queens. It is true that this has been denied by various 

 writers but the denial is based chiefly on variation in the color 

 of the drones, it being overlooked that color is not a safe 

 criterion for the purity of race of either queens or drones. 

 Color is a much more stable characteristic in workers. The 

 parthenogenetic development of drones must be considered 

 in planning any breeding work with bees. In the selection 

 of breeding material it does not necessarily follow because 

 the workers of a colony have the quality desired that the 

 drones of that colony will be best for breeding purposes, 

 since the hereditary characters of the workers come from 

 two parents while those of the drones come from only one of 

 the two. 



Hermaphrodite bees. 



Many cases are recorded ' of bees which show both male 

 and female characters. These hermaphrodites or androgy- 

 nous bees may have male characters on the head and female 

 characters in the abdomen or they may be divided longitudi- 

 nally in various combinations of characters. There is a 

 mixture of male and female characters, varying in different 

 individuals, in both external and internal organs. It is a 

 peculiar fact, not easy of explanation, that when such cases 

 occur there are often many in the same colony. - Boveri ^ 

 suggests that in such cases fertilization is delayed until after 

 cell division has begun and that only part of the cells receive 



criticism is probably based on the belief that sterility is characteristic of 

 hybrids, as in the case of the mule, or it may be based on the belief that 

 the word should be applied only to crosses of true species. There seems to 

 be no objection to the word as beekeepers use it. It is most commonly 

 applied to crosses of Italian and German bees. 



1 V. Delia Torre, K. W. u. Friese, H., 1899. Die hermaphroditen und 

 gynandromorphen Hymenopteren. Berichte d. naturw.-med. Ver. Inns- 

 bruck, XXIV. 



2 Boveri, Th., 1901. Ueber die Polaritat des Seeigel-eies. Verb. Ges. 

 Wurzburg (N. S.), XXXIV, pp. 145-176. 



