LEUCKART, ON INSECTS. 103 
As far as concerns the Hive Bee, Prof. Leuckart confirms ge- 
nerally the extraordinary facts related by Professor v. Siebold. 
He examined several queen-bees which only produced drone- 
eggs, and found generally that they were either virgins, or that 
the supply of semen was exhausted. One or two specimens, 
however, still contained spermatozoa, but they were rolled 
together in a compact mass, so that apparently the compres- 
sion of the spermatheca did not eject any of them. Kiichen- 
meister has endeavoured to show that the impregnation or 
non-impregnation of any egg depends on the relative posi- 
tion of the spermatheca and oviduct, at the time when the 
egg is passing through the latter, and in fact that the semen 
flows out of the spermatheca, as water out of a flask. In 
this manner Kiichenmeister thinks that by the form of the 
cell alone he can explain the impregnation or non-impreg- 
nation of the egg. Thus when the queen inserts her abdo- 
men into the narrow cell of a worker, the pressure of the 
cell-walls alters the position of the spermatheca, some of the 
semen escapes from it, and the egg is impregnated. In lay- 
ing an egg in a drone-cell on the contrary, no pressure is 
exerted on the abdomen of the bee, and consequently the 
egg remains unimpregnated. 
If this were so, however, the number of queen-bees which 
only produce drones would be much larger than it is, since 
there are many which could insert their abdomen into a 
worker’s cell without undergoing any pressure. Moreover, 
the spermatheca is so deeply seated, and so much protected 
by the other organs, that very considerable pressure would 
be required. Finally, the spermatheca is bound down in its 
place by numerous trachez, so that it cannot alter its position 
unless these are torn. 
M. Kuchenmeister was led to adopt this opinion from an 
indisposition to admit that the queen-bee had the power of 
determining the sex of her offspring, and of deciding whether 
each egg should be impregnated or not. M. Leuckart, 
however, seeks for an explanation of the facts in a reflex 
action of the muscles, produced by the influence of external 
circumstances, rather than from any exercise of the will. 
He is inclined to attribute the fertility of certain working 
bees to the nature of their food. In support of this theory 
he mentions an experiment made by Dr. Dondoff, who fed 
certain workers on eggs in honey. M. Leuckart dissected 
eighteen of these bees, and found swollen ovaries in four of 
them. None contained completely developed eggs, but this 
was supposed to be from the short space of time during 
which this food had been continued. 
