490 Miscellaneous. 



with an otolithe. In some cases the author has traced one of the 

 terminal filaments of the antennal nerve into this auditory sac. 



These organs are always of the same construction, and differ only 

 in size ; but their magnitude bears no relation to that of the insect. 

 Their number is very variable : in the antenna of the Libellulidse 

 the author has found only four, whilst in the Lamellicorn Beetles 

 there is an immense number of them. Their position on the antenna 

 is very variable, but always in relation to the form of the organ. 



In some Myriapoda the author has observed a remarkable arrange- 

 ment. About the middle of the antenna of the Scutigera coleoptrata 

 here is a sort of knot or swelling formed by two joints, between which 

 there is a small sac receiving a branch of the antennal nerve. In 

 Julus terrestris there are two analogous structures placed side by side. 



The author's experiments on hearing in Insects have rarely fur- 

 nished him with incontestable results, but they nevertheless lead him 

 to believe that the organs above mentioned are the seat of this sense. 

 Should this prove to be the case, he calls attention to the remarkable 

 fact that these animals possess not only compound eyes, but also 

 compound ears. — Comptes Rendus, August 30, 1858, p. 368. 



Why does the Queen Bee lay an TJnfecundated Egg in the Drone- 

 Cells, and a Fecundated Egg in those of the Workers and Queens ? 

 Is there in this, on the part of the Queen, an Intelligent or In- 

 stinctive Act? By Dr. Kuchenmeister. 



The author, assuming the truth of the results put forward by Von 

 Siebold in his remarkable essay on " Parthenogenesis," namely that 

 the drone-producing eggs of the Hive-Bee are unimpregnated, and 

 those of the queens and workers impregnated, proceeds to give what 

 may be called a mechanical explanation of the facts. 



He says that in the Wasps and Bees the seminal receptacle is 

 placed so that the semen has to travel a considerable distance to 

 reach the oviduct. In this case, there are three causes which may 

 facilitate the flow of semen : — 



1 . The fulness of the receptacle. 



2. A pressure acting upon the bottom of the receptacle from 

 behind and below, forwards and upwards. 



3. The action of a muscular apparatus situated in the upper half 

 of the receptacle. 



At the moment when the eggs destined to produce males are going 

 to be laid, the queen is placed upon the combs without sensibly 

 curving her body, and the egg glides without effort into the cell ; 

 whilst in laying the eggs which are to furnish queens, she turns her 

 head outwards, and twists the abdomen to make it enter the cell. 

 The margin of the cell exerting a pressure upon the bottom of the 

 seminal receptacle, together with the contortion of the body, explain 

 in this case the ejaculation of the semen and the fecundation of the eggs. 



For the fecundation of the eggs destined to furnish workers, it is 

 sufficient, in a fertile and vigorous queen, that there should be a 

 simple pressure of the parenchyma upon the seminal receptacle : 

 when the store of semen begins to be exhausted, the muscular appa- 

 ratus probably comes into play. 



