SOME STRANGE MARRIAGE-CUSTOMS 283 



tion of a father. A queen which has never mated will 

 lay only male-producing eggs. This is an astounding 

 thing, but it is true. No less remarkable is the fact 

 that the sperm-cells should survive in their encapsuled 

 state for periods extending over several years : it seems 

 almost incredible, but it is nevertheless true. 



One cannot suppose that the queen in coming to a 

 drone cell deliberately withholds the male germ as the 

 egg passes down her oviduct ; some inhibitory factor pre- 

 venting the release of the sperm-cell must be brought 

 into play which as yet we have not discovered. This 

 production of males from unfertilized eggs, or " partheno- 

 genesis " as it is called, is a common feature among the 

 hymenoptera, and some other groups of insects, and it 

 occurs also among other lowly creatures to be described 

 later. 



Having regard to the importance of the workers, a brief 

 summary of their life-history must be given. These, it 

 has already been indicated, are all, at any rate till three 

 days old, potential queens. Their development into, or 

 degradation to, the lower grade is determined, apparently, 

 solely by the quality of the food, for the fact that queens 

 are reared only in specially constructed cells of large 

 size with walls of pollen instead of wax is explained by 

 the larger size of the queen and the need for a more 

 porous, air-permeatad cell-wall on account of the longer 

 time which must be spent in confinement. The worker is 

 certainly the most " intellectual " member of the hive, 

 but this superiority has been gained at a great price. 

 Emerging from the chrysalis skin at about three weeks 

 from the time that the egg from which she emerged was 

 laid, she begins forthwith to gnaw her way through the 

 mass of wax and pollen which forms the door of her 



