PARTHENOGENESIS 
661 
of both worlds. It lias been reported to 
yield an amber-colored honey with a flavor 
resembling horeliound honey. On Key 
Biscayne on the east coast of Florida the 
cocoanut is said to be practically the only 
source of honey, but in Porto Rico it is 
not considered a good honey plant. As 
the bloom is wind-pollinated, and the sta¬ 
mens and pistils are in different flowers on 
the same tree, further observation is de¬ 
sirable. When, however, the stalks of the 
great flower-cluster, 3 to 6 feet long, are 
wounded, a sweet sap flows freely, which 
in the East Indies is collected and evapor¬ 
ated into a crude sugar. Possibly honey¬ 
bees gather sweet sap rather than nectar 
from the cocoanut palm. 
The royal palm (Oreodoxa regia) which 
is also found in southern Florida, Cuba, 
and Porto Rico, is pollinated by insects 
and is nectariferous. The tree has no 
regular time of blooming, but the flowers 
appear at intervals thruout the year, and 
there may be fruit of four different ages 
on the tree at one time. The tough buds 
open with a sharp cracking sound expos¬ 
ing the clusters of flowers, which are 3 or 4 
feet long, and consist of hundreds of blos¬ 
soms. It is not usual to get a surplus from 
this palm, altho once in a while a strong 
colony will store a pound a day; but it is 
a valuable honey. In localities where the 
royal palm covers large areas a small 
amount of honey may be placed on the 
market. The honey is light amber, very 
thin, and has a strong flavor. 
PARTHENOGENESIS. —In the great 
majority of cases the sex cells disintegrate 
unless they unite with the products of the 
opposite sex of the same species; but in 
some cases of the animal kingdom cells are 
given off from the ovary, which, without 
fertilization, are able to undergo develop¬ 
ment. That these cells are true eggs is 
evident from their origin, appearance, be¬ 
havior, and fate, while the only difference 
between these eggs and eggs requiring fer¬ 
tilization is that the former are able to 
divide and grow without receiving the 
stimulus given by the male sex cell. To 
this phenomenon the name “partheno¬ 
genesis” is applied. 
The word parthenogenesis (virgin de¬ 
velopment) was first used in this sense by 
Professor v. Siebold in his classic paper, 
“Parthenogenesis in Lepidoptera and 
Bees,” in 1856. 
However, earlier writers described the 
phenomenon under various other names. 
In 1745 Charles Bonnet described the 
parthenogenetic development of plant lice; 
and Prof. Oscar Hertwig, the great Ger¬ 
man embryologist, designated this work as 
marking one of the milestones in the his¬ 
tory of the science of development. 
Just one hundred years later the Rev. 
Johannes Dzierzon of Carlsmarkt, Ger¬ 
many, put forth the theory that the drone 
or male bee is produced from an egg which 
is not fertilized. This work, published in 
the Eichstadt Bienenzeitung, may well be 
looked on as the starting point of the 
theory of parthenogenesis, since it began a 
very important discussion, and marked the 
origin of a host of works along similar 
lines. Dzierzon based his views on the 
following facts observed by him and since 
confirmed by many others: 
1. An unmated queen occasionally lays 
eggs, but these produce only drones. 
2. Workers under certain peculiar cir¬ 
cumstances lay eggs, but these develop 
only into drones. Worker bees have never 
been known to mate. 
3. Old queens may exhaust their supply 
of spermatozoa received in mating, and 
thereafter produce only drones. As the 
supply diminishes they lay an ever in¬ 
creasing percentage of drone- eggs. See 
Dzierzon Theory. 
While this theory is based on the work 
of Dzierzon, it must not be forgotten that 
its establishment is due in no small part to 
the researches of Professor Leuckart and 
von Siebold of Germany. 
The facts brought out in the examination 
of this work have an important bearing on 
the practical work of the apiary, and it is 
necessary for the queen-breeder, at least, 
to know the application. If, for example, 
a Cyprian queen is mated to an Italian 
drone, the resulting workers are a cross 
between the two races, or Cyprio-Italians. 
Any queens reared from this colony are 
also Cyprio-Italians; but the drones of 
this cross-mated queen are pure Cyprians, 
the Italian drone in the cross having no 
influence on the male offspring of the Cyp- 
