24 ‘HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE DOG. 
nascent creature; and that the young animal is nothing more than 
a fully developed seminal filament. Accordingly, it was assumed 
that the egg only contained the requisite nutriment for the suste- 
nance and development of the seminal filament. Now, if this 
were in reality the germ of the nascent creature, the constitutional 
properties must be inherent in the drone. But every bee breeder 
is aware of the fact that an unimpregnated queen lays eggs which 
produce drones exclusively ; and he further knows that worker bees 
occasionally lay eggs from which living creatures are developed, 
and that these are invariably drones. From these facts it is evi- 
dent that the egg contains the germ of the young bee. Let us now 
inquire what observation and experiment further teach. I crossed 
pure Egyptian queens with Italian drones. In the hybrid progeny, 
the constitutional properties — the temperament — of the Egyp- 
tian seemed completely obliterated, as it were, and those of the 
Italian substituted. I next crossed the Italian queens with Egyp- 
tian drones, and the progeny displayed the Egyptian characteris- 
tics wholly. Hence, it was manifest that the temperament of the 
_ bee resides in the seminal filament. Accordingly, in our endeavors 
to provide an improved breed, our attention must be preéminently 
directed to the drones by which the selected queen is to be ferti- 
lized. We come now to the question whether drones possess di- 
versities of temperament; but the elucidation of this branch of 
our topic would oceupy too much time at present. I may per- 
haps have occasion hereafter to discuss it. 
Some may dissent from the views I have here expressed, but we 
cannot disagree in our object, namely, by steadfast endeavor and 
close scrutiny to attain to the knowledge of the truth which the 
Omniscient has embodied in that very diminutive member of ani- 
mated nature, the Honey Bee. 
HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE DOG. 
BY PROF. B, Ç. JILLSON, PH.D. 
Ocroser 26th, 1869, I received two Prairie Dogs, which irs 
been forwarded from Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. The 
about the same size, each measuring thirteen inches in length, "a 
