CONTROLLED MATING IN HONEYBEES 



By LLOYD R. WATSON 

 Department of Plant Breeding, Cornell University 



BEEKEEPING has been prac- 

 ticed for more than three 

 thousand years, and more 

 books and treatises have been 

 written about bees than about any other 

 farm animal, the horse and the fowl not 

 excepted; yet practically no progress has 

 ever been made in improving the types 

 of these useful insects. 



The great handicap to bee culture of all 

 time is that it has never been possible to 

 breed bees in the direction of desired 

 varieties, as is done with cattle, sheep, 

 poultry and all ordinary domestic animals, 

 for the reason that the mating of the 

 queenbee with the male takes place high 

 in the air and free on the wing, where it 

 cannot be controlled. She consistently 

 chooses to manage her own nuptials to 

 suit herself, free from human interference, 

 instead of accepting whatever mate the 

 beekeeper, alert for improvement of the 

 bee population, wishes to select for her. 

 Because the beekeeper has in the past 

 been unable to control the male parentage 

 of his bees, breeding for the improvement 

 of the honeybee along scientific lines has 

 been practically impossible. 



Honeybees are not indigenous to 

 America. It has therefore come to pass 

 that the bees now found in this country 

 are genetically a very heterogeneous group 

 which has resulted from the endless cross- 

 ing and intercrossing of the progeny of the 

 numerous varieties which have been 

 brought here, principally from the lands 



bordering upon the Mediterranean sea. 

 It is true that more or less distinct varieties 

 of honeybees exist in their own respective 

 habitats. Thus, the native bees of 

 Carniola, Italy, Cyprus and Caucasia 

 constitute our most clearly denned and 

 best known types. All of these varieties 

 readily hybridize among themselves when 

 the opportunity is given, and it seems 

 certain that geographical barriers such as 

 waters, mountains and deserts have made 

 possible, first the evolution of these 

 varieties, and finally their preservation 

 through many centuries. 



MATING HABITS OF HONEYBEES 



The queenbee is normally fecundated 

 by a single drone, and in the air, during 

 her once-for-life nuptial flight. How 

 important a part the ability to fly plays 

 in the life of bees is intimated in the fact 

 that queens and drones that do not possess 

 strong, perfect wings may not hope ever 

 to function in the perpetuation of their 

 race. 



The blind scientist, Huber, ascertained 

 (1791) that a single mating is sufficient 

 to fertilize all the eggs that a queen will 

 lay in the course of two years at least, and 

 it has later been demonstrated that this 

 influence will last throughout the course 

 of her whole life, which may be from 

 three to seven years. In a few rare 

 instances queens have been known to 

 mate on two successive days, probably 

 because the first mating was insufficient, 



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