THE PRINCIPLES OF BEE BREEDING. 23 
dawn of history, and these I denominate original or primary races. 
In the course of. time others arose from the crossing or intermix- 
ture of the primary races and these I call derivative or secondary 
races, or varieties. The black bee and the Egyptian I regard as 
primary races. The Italians, Crecropians, Syrians, Chinese, etc., 
etc.—‘* Who can count the peoples? who name their names?” all 
these are nothing more than the hybridous products springing from 
the two original races— mere derivative or secondary races. I 
venture to say that if all these mixed products be entirely removed, 
leaving me only the pure black bee and the pure Egyptian, I could 
speedily reproduce any desired secondary race, by crossing those 
two primaries. Possibly, the strikingly black honey bee of Mad- 
agascar may yet prove to be another primary race 
3. Crossing the Italian bee and the Egyptian. — What has hith- 
erto been said is of subordinate importance, so far as regards the 
production of an improved breed, because it refers only to the 
color or markings which it may be thought desirable to give to the 
improved breed. But of higher and more practical importance is 
the solution of the questions, Is the constitutional temperament . 
of one race transmissible to another? And if so, is this to be 
effected by means of the queen or drone? Or, again, do the con- 
stitutional properties of the two races or varieties become so com- 
mingled or melted into each other by the cross, that new and 
special constitutional properties are the result? In breeding we 
have hitherto relied mainly on the queen. We said —‘ this is a 
choice, populous colony with a fine prolific queen, therefore we must 
use some of its blood for raising queens.” But I do not believe 
that, inthe endeavor to procure an improved breed, it is sufficient to 
have regard only for the qualities of the queen. According to my. 
observations, those of the drone, too, must be taken into account. 
n order to accumulate facts, it became necessary to cross the 
Italian bee with the Egyptian, because these two are the exact coun- 
erparts of each other, as regards constitutional characteristics — 
the Egyptians having a fiery temperament, while the Italian is of 
a placid and gentle disposition. The first inquiry was :— Does 
the temperament reside in the seminal filament, or in the egg? 
In other words, is the seminal filament the germ of the young bee, 
or is the egg? 
When first the seminal filaments were discovered in the genera- 
tive fluid, it was thought that each was the incipient germ of a 
