FERTILIZATION IN THE HONEY-BEE 247 
base of the gland, nor as Zander leads one to infer, in the bulb 
of the penis (this acting as a spermatophore). Inspection of the 
drone’s abdomen, opened without fixing the organs, gives some 
appearance of support to these views, for then, due to disturbance 
‘in dissecting, the sperms are frequently found in the base of the 
gland or even in the penis bulb. 
The spermatic fluid, in contrast to the mucus of the gland, 
mixes readily with any bland aqueous medium, salt, sugar, or 
lymph solution, but any dilution seems to decrease the activity 
of the sperms for a long time, though without necessarily killing 
them. Sperms on a slide under a cover-glass in salt solution 
were not killed by two hours’ contact with ice, and fertile females 
have been frozen to — 2°C. for fifteen minutes without rendering 
subsequently laid eggs infertile.1°. The spermatic fluid and the 
glandular secretion are miscible in the penis before exposure to 
the air, and the sperms are intensely activated by the secretion 
of the gland. Particles of the vesicular wall stimulate them 
similarly. Whether this action is mechanical, as giving the heads 
of the sperms a firm hold for the exertions of their filaments 
(they collect around droplets of the secretion) or whether the 
action is chemical, as a stimulant, is not apparent, Contact 
with the mucus will not activate sperms that are too young to 
release themselves from the vesicular wall, and in the oviduct of 
the queen after copulation the sperms separate out of the mass 
of mucus and enter the seminal receptacle alone. The evidence 
seems to point, therefore, to the stimulus being a mechanical one, 
expecially since sperms are activated by the mechanical act of 
being torn loose from the wall of the vesicle. 
The seminal vesicle when filled with spermatic fluid assumes 
a distinct yellow color, as contrasted with the pure white of the 
mucous gland. This contrast of color is noticeable whenever 
the transparent organs of the drone or queen are filled with these 
secretions. For instance, in freshly dissected drones the yellow 
10 Dzierzon has stated that queens can be rendered infertile, and hence ‘drone 
layers,’ in this way; but though the statement is widely quoted, the writer has 
not found a single other recorded instance of its being done, experimentally or 
otherwise; he was unable to produce the expected result by any temperature, 
either prolonged or extreme, from the effects of which queens would recover. 
