THE QUEEN. 51 



some hliick bcos liatchiii'^ amono- the pure Italians, and it 

 was not till we iiecideiitally diseovorod the old black queen 

 that we understood the matter. 



There aie more suuh eases than most bee-keepers would 

 imagine, and when these happen to buyers of improved 

 raees of bees, if they are not< very close observers, they are 

 apt to accuse the venders of having cheated them. Such 

 instances make tiie business of queen selling quite disagree- 

 able. 



120. IsiPRECNATiON. — -Thc fecundation of the queen bee 

 has oceiqiied the minds of Apiarists and savants for ages. 

 A number of theories were advanced. If a number of 

 drones are confined in a small box, they give forth a strong 

 odor : Swammerdam supposed that the queen was impreg- 

 nated by this scent {numsmiiiiialis) of the drones. Reaumur, 

 a renowned entomologist, in 1744, thought that the mating 

 of the queen was effected inside of the hive. Others ad- 

 vanced that the eggs were impregnated bj' the drones in the 

 cells. 



After making a number of experiments to verify these 

 theories, and finding all false, Huber finally ascertained 

 that, like many other insects, the queen was fecundated in 

 the open air and on the wing ; and that the influence of this 

 connection lasts for several years, and probably for life. 



121. Five days or more after her birth, the virgin 

 queen goes out to have intercourse with a drone. Several 

 bee-keepers of note, such as Neighbour of England ("Cook's 

 Manual," 1884, page 72) and Dzierzon of Germany, wrote 

 that a queen may go out on her marriage-flight when 

 only three days old. The shortest time we have ever 

 noticed between the birth of a queen and her first bridal- 

 flight was five days, and on this we are in accordance 

 with Mr. Alley of Massachusetts, one of the most exten- 

 sive queen breeders in the world. The average time is 

 six or seven days. Earlier bridal-trips are probably due to 



