Control of Dimorphism in the Female Honeybee 2. Methods of Rearing Larvae in the Laboratory and of Preserving Royal Jelly

Abstract

SummaryA standard method was developed for rearing honeybee larvae on royal jelly in a constant-temperature cabinet at 34–34–5°C and 70–85% relative humidity. Larvae that were 2 days old when transferred from worker comb to foods in the laboratory were superior for studying the differentiation of queens to larvae transferred when younger. Experiments leading to this conclusion, and to other aspects of the standard method, are presented.Larvae reared in the laboratory grew more slowly than those reared by nurse bees in a colony, and most of the laboratory-reared larvae developed into workers or intermediates between queens and workers. Any sort of handling of the larvae slowed their growth rate. Measurements of the head capsule indicated that there were 4 larval moults and a pupal moult.The activity of royal jelly in promoting the development of queens was better preserved by freeze-drying and storing the dried material in nitrogen at −20° than by storing whole royal jelly in a refrigerator or in a deep-freeze at −20°. There was an increase in the insoluble material in whole royal jelly, but not in freeze-dried jelly, during refrigeration.