THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



123 



will be prevented from penetrating into the in- 

 terior of tlie egji'. 



Lpuck;irt's statomont, also, that it is impossi- 

 ble, IVoiu the o.\t(M-nal eondltion of the bee's egg, 

 to arrive at anj'' eonclusion as to the sex of the 

 bee whieii is to be developed in it, is important, 

 and I can fully confirm it. 



Leuckart now hoped "by the assistance of the 

 microscope to ascertain the presence or absence 

 of the seminal filaments upon thcmicropylar ap- 

 liaratnsof freshly-deposited drone-eggs, and from 

 this to draw a conclusion as to their iecundation 

 or non-fecundation," as he knew "that in many 

 cases it is not difficult to discover the seminal 

 filaments single or in strings, sometimes even in 

 very considerable ones, in the albuminous layer 

 covering the micropylo in i'reshly laid esrgs, and 

 even to witness the act of slipping in through 

 the micropyle." Unfortunately these hopes 

 were not fuUilled, for Leuckart was compelled to 

 admit that what he observed is not sufficient for 

 the decision of the question, and only possesses 

 some value in as far as Dzierzon's hypothesis is 

 not directly contradicted by it. 



Leuckart accounts for the failure of his design 

 as follows: "The bee is one of those insects 

 which, in fecundation, only deposite very few 

 seminal filaments, perhaps in many cases only a 

 single one, upon their eggs. Important and sig- 

 nificant as this circumstance is for the practical 

 breeding of bees, as only by it does it become 

 possible that the queen, notwithstanding her 

 immense fertility, can lay eggs for years to- 

 gether without exhausting the contents of her 

 seminal receptacle — it is evident that this is 

 equally unl'avorable and unwelcome to the phy- 

 siologist who is in search of these filaments. To 

 this, we may further add that in bee's eggs the 

 seminal filaments have not to penetrate through 

 a thick albuminous layer before reaching the 

 chorion, as is so frequently the case in other in- 

 sects; but that they are deposited almost imme- 

 diately on the micropylar apparatus, and conse- 

 ([uently can penetrate through its canals in a 

 very short time. Lastly, if Ave consider the dif- 

 ficulties which arc tlirown in the way of micro- 

 scopic preparation of the bee's egg, by the great 

 elasticity and delicate texture of the chorion, we 

 can hardly complain of an observer if he has not 

 arrived at any satisfactory result in this case. I 

 admit freely that the investigation of the bee's 

 egg has been the most difficult of all the numer- 

 ous investigations of this kind which I have un- 

 dertaken during the last two summers." 



By an unlucky chance Leuckart, whilst in 

 Seebach, found no opportunity of examining 

 perfectly fresh-laid bee's eggs, as at the time 

 when Leuckart undertook these investigations, 

 Yon Berlepsch could, by no means, bring a queen 

 to deposite her eggs. As the result of these See- 

 bach studies, therefore, Leuckart could only fur- 

 nish the editor of the Bicnenzeitung with the 

 following information: "But you wish then to 

 know to what my investigations have led in gen- 

 eral? I reply that en two occasions only I met 

 with some undoubted seminal lllaments upon the 

 micropyle of bees' eggs. On one occasion a sin- 

 gle filament; on the other several, four or five, 

 (and j'et I have most care full}' examined more 

 than fifty bees' eggs). On both occasions it was 



upon worker-eggs that I found the seminal fil- 

 aments. On drone eggs I have never been able 

 to distinguish a single seminal filament, although 

 I probably examined more drone-eggs than 

 worker-eggs, and amongst these such as had 

 been laid at the utmost a ([uarter of an hour pre- 

 viously. You sec the result is doubtful. At all 

 events it appears rather to speak in favor of than 

 against Dzierzon. But I must repeat that this 

 appearance is possibly deceptive. In the interest 

 of science it would delight me exceedingly if 

 other observers should bo more fortunate than I 

 have been in this respect." 



For the satisfaction of Leuckart, I may state 

 here that I have actually been more fortunate 

 than him, and that I have sepinwhat his eyes did 

 not succeed in beholding. "Until" (so Leuckart 

 closes his statements relating to this subject), 

 "cither by experiments or by direct observation, 

 the strict proof is obtained that it is only the eggs 

 of the female bees that are impregnated, the ques- 

 tion as to the CEUsality of sex in bees remains an 

 open one. Theoretical and other reasons may 

 henceforth induce us either to support or oppose 

 Dzierzon, and we may increase the materials for 

 the settlement of this question in an indirect 

 way — its decision cannot possibly be brought 

 about thereby. ' ' I have, in fact, been able to 

 furnish by direct observation that evidence which 

 must have been required by science as alone suf- 

 ficient for the establishment of Dzierzon's theory. 

 How far I may consider myself justified in this 

 assertion, may be ascertained from the following 

 statemets: 



Although I knew that Leuckart was about to 

 commence the above-mentioned investigations at 

 Seebach, I had also long before undertaken to 

 make similar investigations in the interest of 

 science. Without knowing that Leuckart had 

 already carried out his Seebach studies and with- 

 out being acquainted with the results which had 

 been obtained from them, I also went to Seebach 

 in the middle of August last year, because I was 

 convinced that such investigations could only be 

 undertaken by the aid of the abundant materials 

 which would there stand at my command by the 

 acknowledged complaisance of Ilerr von Ber- 

 lepsch, I certainly entertained but little hope of 

 attaining my end, as the season of the j'ear was 

 already too far advanced for such investigations. 

 On the 21st of August I was received by Herr 

 von Berlepsch with the assurance, calculated to 

 inspire very little encouragement, that I would 

 probably find it difficult to meet with the neces- 

 sary material which I required for my investiga- 

 tions at so late a period of the summer, and 

 therefore that I had little chance of solving the 

 problem before me, especially as Leuckart had 

 been there at Whitsuntide, and therefore at a 

 more favorable season of the year, but bad de- 

 parted without attaining his object, and confessed 

 to Yon Berlepsch that questions relating to Dzier- 

 zon's theory could not be solved by the micro- 

 scope, on account of the very great difficulties 

 which were to be overcome in the investigations 

 to be made for that purpose. Nevertheless, I did 

 not allow m3'selfto be deterred from entering 

 upon these investigations. 



I was, however, actually astonished at the 

 bee material which oflfered itself to me in See- 



