FAJ^ THENOGENESIS, 
147 
conjugation, to which the latter, the larger and 
better nourished it is, has on its own motive less 
inclination/ 
Although we have seen that parthenogenesis in the 
honey bee is the rule, it has been observed that some- 
times the drones do not appear to be pure, and bear 
unmistakably hybrid characters. J. Lowe (98) and J. 
Perez (123), independently of each other, have carried 
out experiments with a view to proving whether drones 
did sometimes exhibit traces of a mixed parentage. 
Perez found that although by far the largest number of 
the drones partook of the character of the mother, as 
many as twenty per cent showed a mixed character. 
Cameron (19) has lately also drawn attention to this 
fact, which has been frequently noticed by bee-keepers 
and others, who have thereupon declared the Dzierzon 
theory untrue. That parthenogenesis is the rule, there 
is no doubt, but it is equally true that such variations 
have been observed to exist. Various reasons have 
been assigned for this deviation from the rule laid 
down by Dzierzon, and confirmed by Siebold and 
other observers. One was that the drones were pro- 
bably bred from workers of different sorts, another 
that they were cases of atavism; but the most probable 
view is that held by those who believe that these 
drones are produced parthenogenetically, but that the 
male of a different race may have so influenced the 
ovary as to affect the future progeny. Lately, Mr. 
Grimshaw (59), in a paper on ‘Heredity in Bees,’ 
read before the B. B. K. Association, advanced the 
idea that heredity is transmitted through the food 
