EE Journal. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Vol. III. 



jANTJAK-i^, ises. 



No. 7 



Parthenogenesis in the Honey Bee. 



BY rHOP, C. T. E. vox SIEBOLD. 



[CONCLUSION.] 



Notwithstaudiug the experiments hitherto made 

 in a practical -way by which Dzicrzon's theory 

 has acquired the right of asserting its justice, we 

 cannot reject the demand that, bj^ means of di- 

 rect experiments, we must acquire the conviction 

 that the drone (gfjs require no fertilization for 

 their development^ wlulst the same eggs, in order 

 to furnish female or worker bees, must he fecun- 

 dated; for it is only by such strict scientific proofs 

 that this new theory will acquire a firm and se- 

 cure basis. 



Since the production of fishes by the artificial 

 fecundation of the eggs had been carried on of 

 late years with such fortunate results, it was 

 natural to think whether it was not possible to 

 establish the correctnessof Dzierzon'stheorj- in- 

 controvertibly hj the artificial impregnation of 

 the bees' eggs. But this mode of proof was ne- 

 cessarily given up again at once as impracticable, 

 for whoever submits the eggs of bees to a close 

 examination will immediat^cly see that these 

 eggs, from their extreme delicacy, are quite un- 

 fitted for such experiments. There would be no 

 possibility of extracting mature eggs uninjured 

 from the ovaries, in order to transfer them either 

 unfecundated or artificial]}^ impregnated into 

 cells to be taken care of by the bees. Nor would 

 these delicateeggs bearwithout injury the contact 

 ofa brush, however fine, moistened with the semen 

 of male bees, aswouldbe recpiired for artificial im- 

 pregnation. Prof. Leuckart proposed to employ 

 eggs which had already been laid as drone eggs 

 in drone cells, and to fertilize them artificially 

 afterwards, in order in this way to decide the 

 question, whether we should succeed byaitificial 

 impregnation in developing such eggs into work- 

 ers or queens. He called attention, however, at 

 the same time, to tiie difiiculties whicli are op- 

 posed to the success of tliis experiment. He 

 justly pointed out that only very fresh and newly 

 deposited drone-eggs should l)e made use of for 

 artificial fecundation, for as soon as the thin al- 

 buminous coating, with which the eggs of in- 



sects are laid, becomes dry, whicli certainly takes 

 place quickly on deposited eggs, the semen em- 

 ployed for artificial impregnation can no longer 

 penetrate through the pores of the egg shell into 

 the interior of the egg, by which means alone as 

 will be sliowu hereafter, the fertilization of the 

 eggs of insects can be completed. From the im- 

 portance of the object which'would be attained 

 by these experiments, difficult as they are to car- 

 ry out, I heartily join in Leuckart's wish that 

 such experiments should be undertaken by many 

 hands; perhaps one or the other of the experi- 

 menters would be so fortunate by the concurrence 

 of several favorable accidents as to attain what 

 from Dzicrzon's theory must apriorihe expected 

 as the result. From the preceding statements it 

 follows that the artificial impregnation of bees' 

 eggs coqld not as yet be employed in favor of 

 Dzierzon's theory. 



Very different hopes were awakened in this 

 respect when we became acquainted Avith the 

 existence and ofl3ce of the micropyle of the eggs 

 of insects. Since Leuckart and Meissner have 

 seen the spermatozoids penetrate the egg-shells 

 through their peculiar openings into the interior 

 of the eggs of insects, we must say beforehand 

 that if Dzierzon's theory proves to be correct, 

 this process can onlj' be observed in those eggs 

 of bees which are destined for evolution of fe- 

 males or workers; and that in the eggs which re- 

 main unfecundated, from which only drones are 

 developed, no spermatozoids will penetrate 

 through the micropyle, whilst the micropylar 

 apparatus must e.xist in exactly the same degree 

 of development in all these eggs, as all eggs are 

 originally of one and the same kind and nature. 



Those eggs of bees whicli have to undergo a 

 fertilization are fecundated at the moment when 

 they slip past the orifice of the seminal duct of 

 the receptacle within the oviduct, (vagina). At 

 this moment, as w(! may certainlj' suppose, some 

 spermatozoa are pressed forth out of the efferent 

 duct of the seminal receptacle, and these in this 

 way ])}• means of their mobilitj- find an opportu- 

 nity of penetrating through the micropjiar ap- 

 jjaratus into the interior of the egg. That the 

 act of fecundation of the insect egg actuallj^ takes 

 place at the point of the vagina just mentioned, 

 was asserted by me in the year IfcST, and con- 

 firmed by au observation which I made upon 



