Guilfordbeekeepers.org

now we must rethink what we call the QUEEN

Jean-BaptisteSimon wrote in 1740;;;;
It was quite wrong , to suppose there was just one royal bee in the hive ...This would be unatural!!! There must be both king and a queen ;; the king to rule,, and the queen to act as mother. Together this noble couple would perpetuate the royal race,, and only the royal face,leaving the reproduction of lowly worker bees to the works themselfs. and of drones to the drones.. In this way the classes of the hive could bekept rigidly apart, and all the sexual and social proprieties could be preserved.. Siomen saw those who beleived ther was just one ruler bee. which might propetuate the whole hive , as altogether fanciful.. 'Its not possible that a singel bee... could carry enough eggs to produce forty of fifty thousand little bees.' Besides ,, it would be beneath the dignity of the queen to behave in this filthy way.....

Any thoughts on this????
was looking for a book on bees and one of the bee books had this ..
the kid

Good stuff.
It is amazing to know that we are continuall learning about bees and that we still do not have it all right.
That is what makes beekeeping so much fun. It is just like a puzzle... once you think you know where all the pieces are, someone comes and moves the pieces.

JC