240 



INSECT TRANSFORMATION 



each chamber of the " brood-comb " (Fig. 117). Unfertilized 

 eggs which will develop into males, are laid in hexagonal 

 chambers larger than the ordinary, while fertilized eggs which 

 produce females, are laid in the ordinary hexagonal chambers 

 if destined to produce workers, and in the large, irregular, 

 rounded " royal " chambers (Fig. 117 c), if destined to develop 

 into young queens. The newly-hatched grubs are fed by the 

 workers with honey and pollen which has been swallowed and 

 partly digested ; this " royal- jelly " continues to be the food 

 of a queen-larva throughout its life, but a worker-larva receives, 

 in its later stages, ordinary honey and pollen. This differ- 



FIG. 117- 



a, Section of comb of Honey Bee (Apis melliftca), showing transition from small (" worker ") 

 to large (" drone ") chambers ; b, the same in surface view ; c, comb with " queen " chambers 

 natural size. After Phillips, U.S. Dept. Agric., Farm. Bull. 447. 



entiation of the two castes of female bees through differential 

 feeding of larvae which are approximately identical in their 

 inherited characters for a worker larva can be converted 

 into a potential queen by a sufficiently early change of treat- 

 ment is one of the clearest examples known of the relative 

 effects of "nature" and "nurture" in bringing about the 

 final result of development in an organism. When the bee 

 grub is fully fed, it spins a delicate cocoon for pupation and the 

 workers seal each chamber with a cap formed of wax and 

 pollen. 1 



In the social communities of ants also, the care and feeding 



1 F. R. Cheshire : " Bees and Bee-Keeping ". 2 Vols. London, 1882-5. 

 F. Benton : " The Honey-Bee ". U.S. Dept. Agric. Entom. Bull. i. 1895. 

 R. E. Snodgrass : " The Anatomy of the Honey- Bee ". U.S. Dept. Agric. 

 Tech. Bull. 18. 1910. 



