224 Miscellaneous, 



when once they have attacked it, and are even propagated by layers 

 and cuttings, that grafting alone can cure the evil, when it is de- 

 sired to avoid the radical remedy of pulling up, and, lastly, that 

 certain varieties are more subject than others to this organic change 

 — the "Terret noir," for example, being most inclined to become 

 avalidouire or coulard, and the '* Clairette blanche'' being hitherto 

 the only one which has furnished us with double flowers. — Comptes 

 Rendus, February 11, 1867, pp. 254-259. 



Note on the Law of Sexual Development in Insects. 

 By H. Landois. 



It is generally supposed, from the observations of Dzierzon and 

 Von Siebold, that the working bees originate from ova fecundated by 

 the queen which deposits them, by means of the semen of her 

 receptaculum seminis, whilst the male bees issue from non-fecundated 

 ova. Von Siebold especially averred that the demonstrated exist- 

 ence of sperm atozoids in the eggs of worker-cells, and their non- 

 existence in those of drone-cells, sufficiently prove that in bees 

 the formation of the sexes depends upon fecundation. But the eggs 

 from which worker bees originate are deposited, as is well known, 

 in different cells from those of the males ; and, moreover, the paste 

 which serves for the nourishment of the young bees is not the 

 Same in the two cases. Hence naturally arose the question whether 

 it would not be possible to produce male bees from eggs laid by the 

 queen in cells intended for workers, by transferring these eggs into 

 cells made for drones, and taking care that the adult workers should 

 not give the larvae any nourishment but that on which the drones 

 are fed. On the other hand, by a similar transfer, might not 

 workers be produced from drone-eggs ? 



I have made this experiment several times, — at first, indeed, without 

 success, because the bees quickly destroyed my work of transfer; 

 but finally I succeeded in deceiving them, not only once, but re- 

 peatedly. I may remark that we cannot succeed in the transfer 

 of the eggs if they are removed from an oviferous comb into an- 

 other containing no eggs. The eggs being extremely delicate, care 

 must be taken not to touch them in transferring them. To manage 

 this, by means of a small pointed knife I cut the bottom of the cell 

 a little round each egg, and then, removing the little fragment of 

 wax with the egg which it bore, I transported it into another cell. 



I was surprised to see worker bees originate from male eggs, and 

 vice versd. There could not be any error in the experiment, for I 

 made my observations several times every day ; besides, when the bees 

 had emerged, the shell of the egg was still to be seen placed upon the 

 little morsel of wax which had served to transport it. According to 

 these experiments, therefore, it is not to the fecundation of the eggs, 

 or to the want of this fecundation, that we can ascribe the produc- 

 tion of workers or drones ; but it is upon the food that the sexual 

 characters of the bees depend. — Comptes Bendus, February 4, 1867, 

 pp. 222-224. 



