AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



83 



Birds, bees, indeed most insects, are 

 oviparous, or of the first group. Some 

 of the sharks, many snakes, all the sum- 

 mer broods of plant-lice, and indeed not 

 a few other insects are of the second 

 group or ovoviviparous. One has to hold 

 a stem or leaf covered with aphides 

 plant-lice — but a few moments in mid- 

 summer, under close observation, to see 

 a number of lice born. Here all the 

 eggs hatch within the mother. 



The mammals, all back-boned animals 

 that suckle their young, are viviparous, 

 that is, the young receives their food 

 almost wholly from the mother. Here 

 the blood-vessels of the mother and 

 young come in very close contact, so 

 that while the blood never passes directly 

 from mother to her prenatal young, yet 

 nourishing material, including oxygen, 

 does so pass, and so the young is fed. 

 The placenta, a very vascular organ 

 where this Interchange takes place, may 

 be likened to the lungs after birth, ex- 

 cept that here the blood receives not 

 only oxygen, but all nourishment, and 

 gives off not only carbonic acid, but 

 nearly all the excreta. 



In bi-sexual animals, as we have seen, 

 the sperm-cells of the male must pass 

 into the eggs or germ-cells, or no devel- 

 opment ensues. In some cases, as with 

 most fish, there is no mating. The milt, 

 or sperm-cells, and the roe, or eggs will 

 pass from parents into the water, and 

 their meeting is portuitous. Here, of 

 course, impregnation is not at all cer- 

 tain, and so sperm-cells or germ-cells 

 exist by the millions — must, or the 

 species would soon cease to exist. The 

 danger is less, however, from the fact 

 that at times of spawning both males 

 and females resort to the same localities, 

 as the salmon and other marine species, 

 then pass up rivers and over gravel beds. 



Nearly all dioecious animals, even 

 some fish, mate, and so germ and sperm 

 cells are brought near together. In the 

 same tubular aparatus, and as the 

 sperm-cells are always very active, mat- 

 ing if both parents are healthy and per- 

 fect, is almost sure to be followed by im- 

 pregnation. 



In a few insects, like our bees, the 

 sperm-cells are received at mating time 

 into a special vesicle, on the side of th« 

 oviduct of the female, known as the 

 spermatheca. It is estimated that the 

 spermatheca of the queen-bee may con- 

 tain millions of the sperm-cells. This 

 organ is under the control of the female 

 Insect, and she can liberate the sperm- 

 cells or withhold them, as the eggs pass 

 by this organ ; and as all bee-keepers 

 know, If the sperm-cells are liberated 



by the queen, the egg is impregnated 

 and develops into a female, while if they 

 are withheld, of course the egg is not 

 impregnated, and yet curiously enough, 

 it still develops, and a male always re- 

 sults. 



The queen liberates the sperm-cells by 

 simply opening the duct from the sper- 

 matheca, when the ever active sperm- 

 cells push out. In case a female insect 

 is possessed of a spermatheca, she does 

 not need to meet the male but once, and 

 probably never does in case impregna- 

 tion is successful. We see, then, that 

 our bees reproduce by sexual reproduc- 

 tion, that they are bi-sexual, oviparous, 

 must mate, but if successful, never mate 

 but once, as the female possesses a 

 spermatheca, and that in the production 

 of the drones or males they are agamic, 

 that is, the unimpregnated eggs develop, 

 but always produce males. 



It is sometimes questioned if drones 

 from eggs of fertile workers or unimpreg- 

 nated queens, would be able to impreg- 

 nate a queen. All such drones have per- 

 fect organs, and the sperm-cells are 

 present, and to all appearances just as 

 active and perfect as in other drones. I 

 see no reason to doubt their potency 

 Indeed, I think cases have been re 

 ported where they were proved to be 

 sexually potent. 



There is one more question connected 

 with reproduction in which there has 

 been much discussion and some differ- 

 ence of opinion. It is stoutly affirmed 

 by some, that the mere presence of 

 sperm-cells in the reproductive system 

 of a female affects her organism so that 

 the eggs which pass subsequently from 

 her ovaries will be affected. Thus if 

 the sperm-cells are from an animal of 

 another breed, her offspring will be im- 

 pure long after these sperm-cells are 

 gone, and even if impregnation occurs 

 by pure mating. The presence of sperm- 

 cells in the organism, taints the organ- 

 ism. To illustrate this point, suppose a 

 short-horn cow was mated with a gallo- 

 way male and produces a cross, half 

 short horn and half galloway. All sub- 

 sequent offspring from this cow, even 

 though mated with a pure short-horn 

 like herself, would be tinctured with 

 galloway blood. It is claimed that this 

 law holds with mammals, birds and bees. 

 I wish to say that I am skeptical in 

 this whole matter. As to mammals I 

 have no positive proof, but a large 

 breeder of mules in Texas writes me that 

 he has had opportunity over and over 

 again to see proof of It, and yet he never 

 saw a vestige of proof. It is easy to see 

 how, through carelessness, or atavism in 



