286 CORRESPONDENCE 



great French Naturalist refer to the question of the 

 "facultative determination of the sexes — the fertilization 

 or non-fertilization of the eggs of the Queen Bee as tli^ey 

 passed through the Oviduct ''. 



This '* facultative determination of the sexes" nnist 

 apply only in the case of a fertilized Queen, and not 

 to the '' reproduction by Yirgin Females by means of 

 eggs." 



As a matter of fact Fabre, devotes his third chapter mn 

 the Halicti, a family of "burrowing" bees, to the 

 question of Partlienogenesis, and at the conclusion of 

 same states : — 



" To sum up, judging by the three species that form the 

 subject of my investigation, the Halicti have two gene- 

 rations a year, one in the Spring, issuing from the Mother 

 who has lived through the Winter after being fecundated 

 in the Autumn, tlie other in the Summer, the fruit of 

 Parthenogenesis; that is to say, of reproduction by the 

 power of the Mother alone." 



Some doubt seemed to have been in Fabre's mind at one 

 time as to whether the same conclusions to which he had 

 come after many years of research amongst the wild bees 

 and wasps would apply also to the Hive Bee, but this 

 doubt was afterwards dispelled as is shown by the follow- 

 ing quotation : — 



"I admit that all the game-hunting and 



honey-gathering Hymenoptera possess a seminal recep- 

 tacle, etc., 



" This organ once accepted the German theory becomes 

 applicable to all the Bees and all the Wasps." 



Yours faithfully, 



SiRIUS. 



^ote. — The foregoing quotations from J. H. Fabre's 

 writings are taken from Bramble Bees and Others ", 

 translated by A. T. de Mattos, F.Z.S.— a collection of all 

 the essays on " ^Vild Bees ", which are to be found in the 

 " Souvenirs Entomologiques •'. 



