50 Bibliographical Notices. 



of seminal fluid received at this time, and stored up in the semmal 

 receptacle, serves for the fecundation of the immense number of eggs 

 which she deposits during the period of her fertility, extending over 

 several years. Sometimes, however, the stock of spermatozoids ap- 

 pears to be exhausted before the life of the queen comes to a close, 

 and when this is the case she lays nothing but drone-eggs, intro- 

 ducing confusion into the wonderfully harmonious arrangements of 

 the hive. This was found to be the case also with a queen which 

 had been exposed to severe cold, with the view of destroying the 

 vitality of the spermatozoids ; of three queens thus treated, only one 

 survived, and this afterwards laid nothing but drone-eggs. Another 

 queen, whose abdomen had been injured so as probably to displace 

 the seminal receptacle, also produced drone-eggs exclusively. Added 

 to this, certain workers, which, as is well known, are merely abortive 

 females, destitute of copulative organs and of the seminal receptacle, 

 and therefore incapable of fecundation, are found to possess imper- 

 fectly developed ovaries, which produce a very small number of eggs, 

 and these, when deposited in tlie cells, are said always to produce 

 drones. For most of these facts Von Siebold appears to have been 

 indebted to the apiarians Dzierzon and Yon Berlepsch ; but perhaps 

 the most remarkable observations are those made by himself, in the 

 microscopic examination of a considerable number of newly-deposited 

 eggs. In the majority of the eggs deposited in worker-cells examined 

 by him, he foiuid spermatozoids ; sometimes as many as four. In 

 some instances these singular filaments still retained the power of 

 motion. On examining twenty-seven drone-eggs laid by the same 

 queen which had furnished a portion of the female eggs. Yon Siebold 

 did not discover a single spermatozoid. 



Such is the outline of the results at which the distinguished author 

 has arrived ; and although many will perhaps be disinclined to give an 

 unhesitating adhesion to his views, there can be no doubt that his 

 work is one of the most important that has appeared for a long time, 

 one well worthy of being carefully studied by all physiologists, and 

 one that must in the end greatly advance the cause of science, if only 

 by calling the attention of observers to this singular and much- 

 neglected subject. 



Eenige Vergelijkend-Ontleedkundige Aanteeheningen over den Oto- 

 licnus Peli. Eene Academische Proeve, door P. Hoekema 

 KiNGMA. Leyden, 1855. 



Some Observations on the Comparative Anatomy of the Otolicnus 

 Peli. An Academical Essay. By P. Hoekema Kingma. Ley- 

 den, 1855. Pp. 55 and 2 Plates. 



Dr. Kingma tells us, in a short preface, that at the time when it 

 became necessary for him to select a subject for his Academical Dis- 

 sertation for the Degree of Medicine at Leyden, he found some diffi- 

 culty in making his choice. He says he would gladly have taken 

 one having a direct relation to medicine, if his experience in that 

 science had been more ample and satisfactory. He considered him- 



