( Ixx ; 



laid indiscriminately j but, when both sexes are present, that 

 the upper cells produce males, which emerge first, the lower, 

 females, which emerge later, and it is conceivable that the 

 food supplied to these cells is different in some respects. A 

 male bee in such a case might conceivably be changed in 

 size, if bred on food normally supplied to a female, but there 

 is no evidence that the food in different cells of one species 

 varies in quality, although the proportion of pollen to honey 

 varies greatly in the case of different kinds of bees. 



The following facts seem to be almost or quite constant : — 



(1) Giantism is only exhibited by the male sex. 



(2) Truly gigantic males are a very small percentage of the 

 total number of individuals. 



(3) A gigantic male may be taken from the same burrow as 

 normal ones. 



(4) There is no striking development of secondary sexual 

 characters in such males. Thus when there is a special tooth 

 on the mandibles, or the cheek is armed with a special spine 

 in the male, these do not undergo any extraordinary develop- 

 ment in gigantic individuals. There is, for instance, no 

 change comparable with that exhibited by the teleodont and 

 other forms of Lucanid beetles or in the horns of Dynastids. 



(5) Though they approach the normal female in bulk, and 

 consequently in some cases somewhat resemble that sex in 

 superficial appearance, there is really no accession of female 

 characters in any respect. 



(6) They fly with and behave like normal individuals and 

 appear perfectly healthy. 



(7) The presence of the parasite Stylops does not necessarily 

 prevent giantism, as gigantic males have been found containing 

 this parasite. 



The pairing of Stylops and " assembling " of the 



MALES OBSERVED BY Dr. K. C. L. PERKINS. — Prof. POULTON 



said that he had received the following three letters and the 

 accompanying specimens and drawings from Dr. Perkins, who 

 was unfortunately unwell and unable to be present and give 

 an account of his most interesting and important discoveries. 

 All were written at Paignton, S. Devon. 



