The Life of the Bee 



estimates at twenty-five millions, are 

 preserved alive in a special gland known 

 as the spermatheca, that is situate under 

 the ovaries, at the entrance to the common 

 oviduct. It is imagined that the narrow 

 aperture of the smaller cells, and the 

 manner in which the form of this aperture 

 compels the queen to bend forward, ex- 

 ercise a certain pressure upon the sper- 

 matheca, in consequence of which the 

 spermatozoa spring forth and fecundate 

 the egg as it passes. In the large cells 

 this pressure would not take place, and 

 the spermatheca would therefore not open. 

 Others, again, believe that the queen has 

 perfect control over the muscles that open 

 and close the spermatheca on the vagina ; 

 and these muscles are certainly very 

 numerous, complex, and powerful. For 

 myself, I incline to the second of these 

 hypotheses, though I do not for a mo- 

 ment pretend to decide which is the more 

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