158 Chapter IV. 



ing or closing the connection between the oviduct and 

 the seminal vessel, to control, under the influence of 

 her oviparous instinct, the fertilization of the egg, and 

 therefore to decide, whether it would develop into a 

 male or a female. This instinct of the queen is aroused 

 to suitable activity by the peculiar nature of the cell, 

 into which she puts her head before oviposition; in 

 drone-cells she puts an unfertilized egg, in those of 

 a future queen or worker a fertilized one. Probably 

 she is led to make this difference not so much by the 

 touch-perception of the different shapes of the cells, 

 but rather by the smell of the salivary gland secretions 

 employed by the workers in their construction. 1 The 

 peculiar odor of the cells, however, as well as their 

 size and form is due to the architecture of the workers ; 

 thus, in bees the sex of the offspring is indirectly 

 at least controlled by the instincts of the workers. 

 With ants it is different, because their queens do not 

 deposit the eggs in cells, but simply suffer them to 

 be received and carried away by the workers. The 

 instinctive self-determination of the oviparous female 

 seems, therefore, to be greater with ants. Of course, 

 it is very probable, that the nourishment and treat- 

 ment of the queen on the part of the workers indirectly 

 also influences the oviposition ; but in what manner, 

 is as yet entirely unknown. 



To pass from the queen to the workers, it was ascer- 

 tained long ago, that, with social wasps, bees and ants, 

 also workers, which have small ovaries with a reduced 

 number of ovarial tubes, and are, besides, unable to 



J ) Cf. on this point N. Ludwig, "Futtersaft oder thierische Veran- 

 lagung," p. 32; and p. 57 of the publication of Ferd. Dickel mentioned 

 below. 



