82 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Written Jor the American Bee Journal 

 BY PBOF. A. J. COOK. 



The Subject of Reproduction in 

 Bees Considered. 



We will understand our topic all the 

 better if we give the subject of repro- 

 duction a brief, general consideration. 



There are three methods of reproduc- 

 tion among animals — by Fission, Gem- 

 mation, and Sexual Reproduction. The 

 first two, by separation and budding, 

 seem to ally plants and animals ; indeed 

 the whole philosophy of the science of 

 to-day shows that nature is one great 

 whole. 



Fission is explained by the word sep- 

 aration. An aniaal separates, and two 

 animals are the result. We see the 

 same in reproduction of strawberries by 

 runners. This division is no rare sight 

 in our Zoological laboratories. It is 

 often a rapid performance, and so we 

 may witness the whole operation at one 

 sitting at our microscopic study. This 

 method is confined to four branches of 

 the animal kingdom : the lowest, or 

 Protozoans, single-celled animals, where 

 it Is the only method ; the sponges, 

 where any separation, however rude, 

 results in no serious harm, but in as 

 many perfect animals as there are of the 

 divisions ; among the coral branch of 

 animals, where even accidental division 

 often results, in as sure and perfect re- 

 production as that just described among 

 sponges. The branch Vermes — worms — 

 illustrates this method of reproduction 

 in a few cases. 



Gemmation, or budding, is well ex- 

 plained in the last word. A bud starts 

 forth, develops, and possibly drops off, 

 when it becomes a single animal like its 

 parent. It may not drop off, in which 

 case we have a compound form, as seen 

 in all real coral animals. This law of 

 reproduction is best illustrated in the 

 branch of animals including the corals, 

 and is also illustrated in a few of the 

 worms. In our laboratories we have 



opportunity to observe the whole opera- 

 tion in the very interesting fresh-water 

 Hydra. This is so rapid in development 

 that it is not tedious to watch it, from 

 beginning to end. All animals that de- 

 velop by gemmation develop also sexu- 

 ally. 



Sexual Eeproduction is where an egg 

 or germ-cell is produced in an organ, 

 called an ovary, or female organ, and a 

 sperm-cell ia a male organ. Usually the 

 sperm-cell must enter and become incor- 

 porated within the egg, to Insure devel- 

 opment or reproduction. In some cases, 

 as with drone-bees and plant-lice, the 

 eggs are fecund without receiving the 

 sperm-cells; but this is exceptional. This 

 kind of reproduction prevails in all ani- 

 mals except the lowest of single-celled 

 branch, and in all of these branches, if 

 we except the coral animals and a few 

 worms, it is the only method of increase. 



There are two kinds of sexual animals, 

 those where both the male and female 

 organs are found in the same animal, 

 and those where the sexes are distinct. 

 Th« first are known as hermaphrodites, 

 and unl-sexual or monoecious animals; 

 the others are bi-sexual or dicecious. 

 Here, again, we see a tie binding plants 

 and animals together, for every observer 

 knows that most, even of our higher 

 plants, are monoecious, while not a few, 

 like the willow, the poplar, the hemp, 

 etc., are dioecious. 



Both of these methods are Illustrated 

 in most of the lower branches, indeed in 

 all branches of sexual animals except 

 the two highest. Thus animals as high 

 as the angle worm and snail are her- 

 maphrodites or uni-sexual, that is, each 

 animal is both male and female, while 

 we find bi-sexual animals among all the 

 lower branches of sexual animals ; the 

 two highest branches, the insect and 

 back-bone branches, consist wholly of 

 them. Thus our bees are not only bi- 

 sexual, but they belong to a branch that 

 is practically dioecious throughout. 



The sexual animals are again divided 

 into the oviparous, those which lay eggs • 

 which develop and hatch outside the 

 mother, and where the unhatched young 

 must get all its nourishment from the 

 egg, except as it may secure something, 

 as oxygen, from the surrounding media ; 

 the ovoviviparous also called sometimes, 

 unfortunately, viviparous, where the egg 

 hatches inside the mother, and so the 

 young is born alive and active, though 

 the nourishment is still wholly from the 

 egg; and viviparous where the young 

 develops within the mother and secures 

 nearly all its nourishment from the 

 mother, and not from the egg. 



