LIXNEAX SOCIETY OP LONDON'. 69 



ABSTEACTS. 



On a Problem iu AVeismannism. By A. C. F. Morgan, F.L.S. 



[Read 1st May, 1913.] 



Discussing the cases in which reproduction is confined practi- 

 cally exclusiveh' to one individual in the hive, that is the so-called 

 " Queen," the author suggested that Natural Selection has 

 opei-ated in the following manner: — 



" It seems to me that if a queen or real female produced 

 descendants which had a tendency to be sterile, and remain in the 

 hive and feed the queen, this tendenc}^ would be acted on by 

 Natural Selection, because such a queen being highly fed in the 

 hive would probably produce a large nnmber of eggs which would 

 produce descendants inheriting sterility and the same apparent 

 affection for the queen. Some of these might (as they do, without 

 enquiring now into the cause) develop into real females (queens), 

 which, however, would also inherit the same tendency to produce 

 sterile workers. 



" No doubt the queens born from this mother would " swarm " 

 and be mated by drones (males) of another stock, and this would 

 be a cli»-"!ck on the continuation of the particular characteristic 

 wliich we are considering, but those queens which did produce 

 sterile workers would have the great advantage of breeding in- 

 dividuals which fed and nourished them to an inordinate extent 

 without any trouble to themselves (the queens), whereas those 

 that did not breed this type would have to go out and forage for 

 themselves and would more nearly approacli the wasps, or the 

 solitary bees, and would in consequence lay many less eggs than 

 the pampered queen-bee fed by the workers in the hive. This 

 explains, I think, the cause of so large a number of workers being 

 produced. 



" I have, therefore, endeavoured to show that it would be a 

 distinct advantage to the parent queen to produce sterile workers 

 who would attend on her and feed her, and an advantage to the 

 race, as she is then able to produce a large number of eggs and the 

 larvoe are well cared for. It must be noted that the loss of power 

 to reproduce seems to be counterbalanced by a considerable 

 amount of intelligence in feeding the queen, constructing cells and 

 feeding the young, but this intelligence may have been much 

 over-rated, as Lord Avebury has pointed out, in some of his 

 experiments with ants and bees. 



"The mechanical modiiications of the genital organs, as shown 

 by Mr. Frank Chesliire, in the workers rendering the visit of the 

 males impossible, may be explained as a collateral modification in 

 coiuiection with the degeneration of the ovaries. 



" But whilst I have endeavoured to show that Natural Selection 

 has effected the preservation of a race of sterile or degenerate 

 females, and this is probably being increased through artificial 



