152 WASPS [CH. V 



A most instructive observation by the same writer, 

 and one fully appreciated by him, concerns the distribu- 

 tion of sexes in " mixed," (i.e. containing both small and 

 large cells) combs. In such a comb " the small cells seem 

 influenced by the proximity of the large cells and contain 



only a very small proportion of males, When the 



' queen ' is on the large cells her receptacle is in an active 

 condition, and if now and then she gets on to the small 

 cells of the same comb she will have her receptacle in the 

 condition, suited to the large cells and will lay fertilised 

 eggs for most of the time." This explanation satisfactorily 

 removes the will of the " queen " as the determining factor 

 in withholding or bestowing the fertilising element from 

 any given egg. 



It is a remarkable circumstance that among honey- 

 bees the case is different. There, it is in the large cells 

 that the unfertilised (drone-producing) eggs are deposited. 

 Drory, however, has shown that if at the time of depositing 

 male-eggs the " queen " bee has no large cells provided for 

 her, then she will place these eggs in ordinary cells : and 

 conversely if only large cells are provided at the time 

 when she is laying fertilised eggs the "queen" bee will 

 nevertheless lay female eggs in the cells originally in- 

 tended to hold males. 



Homing. The power possessed by wasps and other 

 Hymenoptera of finding their way home to the nest has 

 attracted the attention of many naturalists. The obser- 

 vations made by Fabre on several species seem to make it 

 clear that in some cases at any rate it is not by the sense 

 of sight nor by memory that the return journey is made. 



