4:2 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



Aristotle noticed, more than 2,000 years ago, that the 

 eggs which produce drones are like the worker-eggs. 

 With the aid of powerful microscopes we are still unable 

 to detect any difference in the size or appearance of the 

 eggs of the queen. 



These facts taken in connection, appear to constitute a 

 perfect demonstration that unfecundated queens are not 

 only able to lay eggs, but that their eggs have sufficient 

 vitality to produce drones. 



Lt seems to me probable, that after fecundation has been 

 delayed for about three weeks, the organs of the queen- 

 bee are in such a condition that it can no longer be 

 effected ; just as the parts of a flower, after a certain time, 

 wither and shut up, and the plant becomes incapable of 

 fructification. Perhaps, after a certain time, the queen loses 

 all desire to go in search of the male. The fertile drone- 

 laying workers would seem to be physically incapable of 

 impregnation. 



There is something analogous to these wonders, in the 

 " aphides," or green lice, which infest plants. We have 

 undoubted evidence that a fecundated female gives birth 

 to other females, and they in turn to others, all of which 

 without impregnation are able to bring forth young ; until, 

 after a number of generations, perfect males and females 

 are produced, and the series starts anew ! 



However improbable it may appear that an unimpreg- 

 nated egg can give birth to a living being, or that sex can 

 depend on impregnation, we are not at liberty to reject 

 facts because we cannot comprehend the reasons of them. 

 He who allows himself to be guilty of such folly, if he 

 aims to be consistent, must eventually be plunged into the 

 dreary gulf of atheism. Common sense, philosophy, and 



semen of drones, and given to bees -which have neither queen nor brood of any 

 kind, I believe that queens, workers, and drones may be raised from thorn. 



