7908 



Entomological Society. 



" As the Kev. Principal does not particularize any experiments beyond thermo- 

 metrical observations, we may be excused for doubting whether these are quite so 

 conclusive as he imagines, as well as for suggesting that it is just possible that he 

 may have mistaken effect for cause, since it by no means follows that because the pro- 

 cess of queen-raising is generally attended with an increase of temperature, the in- 

 sulation of a queen's cell, or even a special temperature, is absolutely essential to its 

 success. In frame-hives, especially, we have often found queens hatched out of cells 

 which were so placed as to render it impossible for the bees to cluster all over them, 

 whilst the general position of queens'-cells on the edges of combs, and, therefore, in 

 the coldest parts of the hives, is such as of itself to raise a doubt as to the correctness 

 of the new theory. 



" Our own impression is, that the immortal Huber was most probably correct in 

 assigning as the cause of this wonderful transformation the quality as well as the 

 quantity of food with which the royal larva is supplied. To this hypothesis Dr. 

 Leitch objects that it has by no means been conclusively proved, either by chemical 

 analysis or by any other means, that the so-called royal jelly differs iu any respect 

 from the ordinary food supplied to the worker-larva. 



" We now come to a circumstance which appears to us so conclusive, as to the 

 fact of the food with which it is supplied being the true cause of this marvellous 

 transformation of a worker-larva into a queen-bee, that we fancy, if it had come under 

 the notice of the Reverend Principal, it would have prevented his promulgating a 

 theory which we believe to be entirely erroneous. 



"In the German ' Bienenzeitung,' or Bee Journal, is an article by the Rev. M. 

 Kleine, one of the ablest German Apiarians, in which the following statement occurs : 

 4 Dzierzon recently intimated, that as Huber, by introducing some royal jelly into 

 cells containing worker-brood obtained queens, it may be possible to induce bees to 

 construct royal cells, where the Apiarian prefers to have them, by inserting a small 

 portion of royal jelly iu cells containing worker-larvae. If left to themselves, the bees 

 often so crowd their royal cells together that it is difficult to remove one without fatally 

 injuring the others; as, when such a cell is cut into, the destruction and removal of 

 the larva usually follows. To prevent such losses I usually proceed as follows : — 

 When I have selected a comb with unsealed brood for rearing queens, I shake or brush 

 off the bees and trim off, if necessary, the empty cells at the margin. Then take an 

 unsealed royal cell — which usually contains an excess of royal jelly — and remove from 

 it a portion of the jelly, on the point of a knife or pen, and by placing it on the inner 

 margin of any worker-cells, feel confident that the larvse in them will be reared as 

 queens ; and, as the royal cells are separate, and on the margin of the comb, they can 

 be easily and safely removed. This is another and important advance in practical 

 bee-culture, for which we are indebted to the sagacity of Dzierzon.' 



" The foregoing fact appears to us sufficiently conclusive as to the truth of Huber's 

 theory, regarding the influence of food in producing the astonishing development of a 

 worker-larva into a queen-bee, and, after giving the whole subject our best consi- 

 deration, we feel warranted in pronouncing the special-temperature theory of the Rev. 

 Mr. Leitch to be * not proven.' 



" I am very glad to find that our ideas on the queen-rearing problem are so 

 similar. With regard to the cells of queens, they are formed of wax like all the 

 others, and although, from being more substantial, they might not collapse so readily, 

 their destruction would be only slightly delayed, the melting point being the same. 



