142 ARE THE EFFECTS OF USE INHERITED? 



itself on the sperm-cells of the drones and on the 

 germ-cells of the carefully secluded queen ? 

 Biichner thinks so, for he says : " Although the 

 queens and drones do not now work, yet the 

 capacities inherited from earlier times still remain to 

 them, especially to the former, and are kept alive 

 and fresh by the impressions constantly made upon 

 them during life, and they are thus in a position to 

 transmit them to posterity. " Surely it is better 

 to abandon a cherished theory than to be com- 

 pelled to defend it by explanations which are as 

 inconsistent as they are inadequate. New capa- 

 cities are developed as well as old ones kept fresh. 

 The massacre or expulsion of the drones would 

 have to impress itself on the germ-cells of an on- 

 looking queen, and the imprisonment of the 

 queen on the sperm-cells of the drones and in 

 such a way, moreover, as to be afterwards de- 

 veloped into action in the neuters only. And 

 use-inheritance all the while is being thoroughly 



