Rationing According to Sex 



forms a worker larva into a female or royal 

 larva? It is true that the sex remains the 

 same, since the workers are only incompletely 

 developed females. The change is none the 

 less miraculous, so much so that it is almost 

 lawful to enquire whether the transformation 

 may not go further, turning a male, that 

 poor abortion, into a sturdy female by means 

 of a plentiful diet. Let us therefore resort 

 to experiment. 



I have at hand some long bits of reed in 

 the hollow of which an Osmia, the Three- 

 horned Osmia, has stacked her cells, bounded 

 by earthen partitions. I have related else- 

 where ^ how I obtain as many of these nests 

 as I could wish for. When the reed is split 

 lengthwise, the cells come into view, together 

 with their provisions, the egg lying on the 

 paste, or even the budding larva. Observa- 

 tions multiplied ad nauseam have taught me 

 where to find the males and where the fe- 

 males in this apiary. The males occupy the 

 fore-part of the reed, the end next to the 

 opening; the females are at the bottom, next 

 to the knot which serves as a natural stop- 

 per to the channel. For the rest, the quan- 



1 Cf. Bramble-bees and Others: chaps, ii. to v. — Trans- 

 lator's Note. 



229 



