i88 ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY 



open as eggs pass down the oviduct and by it on their way out 

 of the body, thus allowing the spermatozoids to swim out, 

 penetrate (through the micropyle in the egg-envelopes) and 

 fertilize the eggs, or it may be kept closed, preventing the 

 issuance of the spermatozoids and, consequently, fertilization. 

 From the unfertilized eggs laid in the larger cells hatch larvae 

 which are fed and cared for in the same way as the worker 

 larvae, but which require six days for full growth, the pupal 

 stage lasting fifteen days. When finally the fully developed 

 bees issue from these cells it will be found that all are males 

 (drones). This parthenogenetic production of drones, dis- 

 covered about 1840 by Dzierzon, and long accepted as proved, 

 was recently questioned by Dickel and one or two other natu- 

 ralists and was therefore reinvestigated by Petrunkewitsch 

 and others, with the result of confirming, on new evidence, 

 and by new methods of investigation, the declarations of the 

 discoverer of the fact. 



If, now, the bee community has increased so largely in num- 

 bers that its quarters begin to be insufficient for further ex- 

 pansion, excited groups of workers will be seen tearing down 

 certain cells and replacing them by a new giant cell which is 

 usually built up around one of the fertilized eggs laid in a 

 small hexagonal cell. The egg hatches before the cell is fin- 

 ished, and the larva lies in the large open cavity of the growing 

 cell, on which numerous nurses are in constant attendance. 

 Often several of these unusual giant cells may be built at one 

 time. The larva which hatches from the fertilized egg in one 

 of these cells is fed the nutritious bee-jelly through all of its 

 life, little or no pollen or honey being given it. When the 

 larva is five days old a quantity of the milky semi-fluid jelly 

 is put into the cell, which is then capped, the opening being at 

 the bottom of the hanging, nut-shaped cell, and in only seven 

 days more the fully developed bee issues. This bee is a queen. 

 Very rarely a worker and not a queen issues from a queen-cell. 

 That is, a larva hatching from a fertilized egg laid by the 

 queen in a small hexagonal cell, if fed bee- jelly for two or three 

 days and then pollen and honey, will develop into a worker; 

 that larva from the same egg if fed bee-jelly all its life, and 



