198 RELATIONS OF OVA AND GEMM^. 



5. It is known that congelation destroys the vitality of 

 the spermatozoa ; and, in connection with tliis, it is found 

 that though a queen, when revived after being frozen, may 

 deposit ova, they are only such as will give origin to drone- 

 larvse. 



6. A queen, when crossed with a male of another variety, 

 will produce a hybrid progeny, but ail the di'ones will be of 

 her own variety. 



7. AVhile spermatozoa are readily discoverable in female 

 ova, all attempts have been unsuccessful to find them in 

 those of drones.* 



The case of the hive bees goes to prove an actual conver- 

 tibility of gemmse and ova. Other cases show, with varying 

 distinctness, a sameness of origin and of development up to 

 a more or less advanced stage ; nay, even it may be, a pro- 

 bability that the egg-like bodies, which ordinarly develope 

 embryos of themselves, are occasionally impregnated ; but, 

 in the reproduction of the bee, it would seem that, up to 

 the time when the eggs come to be laid, it is still undeter- 

 mined whether they are to be impregnated or not. The 

 Entomostraca and Rotifera lay two kinds of eggs — identi- 

 cal in their origin, though differing in their later develop- 

 ment — one of which is agamic and the other not ; but, in 

 the case of the hive bee, the same ova appear to be agamic 

 or not, according to circumstances. Out of the same brood, 

 all ripe for fecundation, some are fecundated, some not — 

 the selection depending on causes quite extrinsic to the 

 organism — and both alike develop embryos, with only a 

 corresponding difference in sex.*f* Phenomena such as these 



* A true Parfhenogenesis in Moths and Bees — Transl. by W. S. Dallas. 

 An abstract of the paper is given in the Edinb. Philos. Journal for April, 

 1857, p. 319, by Prof. Goodsir. 



f Hence, the term " agamic ovum" seems preferable to that of " pseud- 

 ovum," proposed by Prof. Huxley, for it is a contradiction in terms to say 

 that such a body may have already left the ovary, before it is decided 

 whether it is to become an ovum or a pseud-ovum. 



