APPENDIX. 477 



On Propagating the Italian Bee. 



The Baron of Berlepsch thinks that when a Queen is re- 

 duced to a torpid condition by cold, the contents of her sper- 

 matheca are injured, so that she is never after capable of lay- 

 ing worker eggs. It occurred to me that if his experiments 

 on this point could be verified, it would be an easy matter, 

 at any time, by refrigerating a queen, to change her into a 

 drone-layer and thus have a supply of Italian drones for im- 

 pregnating newly raised queens. Thus far, however, my ex- 

 periments do not at all support the Baron's observations. Dr. 

 Leidy has examined several refrigerated queens and found 

 the contents of their spermatheca to be uninjured. One 

 queen was reduced to a torpid condition and then restored, 

 and after this process was repeated several times, she was 

 returned to her colony. An examination of the sealed brood 

 in this hive a few weeks later, showed that it was all regu- 

 lar working brood ! I would propose a method by which 

 drone laying queens can be easily obtained, at any time when 

 they are wanted. Let a person receiving an Italian queen 

 so late in the season that she does not incline to lay drone 

 eggs, proceed as follows : Raise from her worker-eggs, a 

 few queens, and confine them to their hives, by adjusting 

 the entrances, for about twenty-four days. Their impreg- 

 nation being thus delayed, (p. 39,) they will ever after pro- 

 duce only drones. As soon as these queens begin to lay, 

 the proper steps may be taken to raise from the original 

 Italian queen, others to be impregnated by these drones. A 

 person receiving an Italian queen in July might thus suc- 

 ceed in replenishing his Apiary in September, with her pro- 

 geny impregnated by Italian drones. In consulting the old 

 Greek and Latin writers who have noticed the Italian bee, I 

 find no mention made of its superior gentleness, except by 

 Columella, who speaks of it as being " mitior moribus," that 

 is, more peaceable in its behavior, than the common kind. 



Feb. 14th. To-day, the thermometer being 45° in the 

 shade, and the atmosphere calm and clear, the bees have 

 filled the air with their happy hum, and although the ground 

 has been covered with snow, very few have failed to return 

 to their hives. A careful examination of my stocks shows 



