THE QUEEN. 61 



the eggs wliicli iDroduce drones are like the worker-eggs.* 

 With the aid of powerful microscopes we are still unable to 

 detect any difference in the size or outside appearance of 

 the eggs of the queen. 



141. These facts, taken in connection, constitute a per- 

 fect demonstration that unfecundated queens are not only able 

 to lay eggs, but that their eggs have sufficient vitality to 

 produce drones. 



It seems to us probable, that after fecundation has been 

 delayed for about three weeks, the organs of the queen-bee 

 are in such a condition that it can no longer be effected; 

 just as the parts of a flower, after a certain time, wither 

 and shut up, and the plant becomes incapable of fructifica- 

 tion. Perhaps, after a certain time, the queen loses all de- 

 sire to go in search of the male. 



There is something analogous to these Avonders in the 

 ^''aphides'' or green lice, which infest plants. We have un- 

 doubted evidence that a fecundated female gives birth to 

 other females, and they in turn to others, all of which with- 

 out impregnation are able to bring forth young; until, after 

 a number of generations, perfect males and females are pro- 

 duced, and the series starts anew! 



However improbable it may appear that an unimpregnated 

 egg can give birth to a living being, or that sex can depend 

 on impregnation, we are not at liberty to reject facts be- 

 cause we cannot comprehend the reasons of them. He who 

 allows himself to be guilty of such folly, if he aims to be con- 

 sistent, must eventually be plunged into the dreaiy gulf of 

 atheism. Common sense, philosophy, and religion alike teach 

 us to receive, with becoming reverence, all undoubted facts, 

 whether in the natural or spiritual world; assured that how- 

 ever mysterious they may appear to us, they are beautifully 

 consistent in the sight of Him whose ^'understanding is in- 

 finite.'' 



* Cheshire says that "worker-egg" is a misnomer, since all worker- 

 eggs are impregnated, and hence female-eggs. But the term is too in- 

 telligible and popular, for us to change it ; since Cheshire himself 

 bows before custom, and uses it. 



