GENERATION OF ANIMALS, III. x. 



say that drones are male and " bees " female ; others 

 that " bees " are male and drones female). 



We have only to bring before our minds the special 

 and particular facts concerning bees, on the one side, 

 and on the other the facts more generally applicable 

 to other animals, to see that all of these theories are 

 impossible. Suppose they do not generate offspring 

 themselves but fetch them from elsewhere. In that 

 case bees ought to be formed, even if the, bees failed 

 to fetch them away, in those places whence they 

 fetch the seed (semen). For why should a bee be pro- 

 duced if the seed is fetched away, and not if it is left 

 where it is ? Surely it ought to be produced none the 

 less, no matter whether it springs spontaneously to 

 Ufe in the blossoms or whether some animal generates 

 it. Also, if the seed were that of some other animal, 

 then that animal ought to be formed out of it, and 

 not bees. Further, it is reasonable enough that bees 

 should collect honey, for honey is their food ; but it 

 is absurd that they should collect offspring which (a) 

 is produced by some animal other than themselves, 

 and (6) is not food. After all, why should they ? 

 All creatures which concern themselves about young 

 ones take that trouble over what appears to them to 

 be their otvn proper offspring. 



Nor is it reasonable to hold that " bees " are female 

 and drones male ; because Nature does not assign 

 defensive weapons to any female creature ; yet while 

 drones are without a sting, all " bees " have one. 

 Nor is the converse \-iew reasonable, that " bees " are 

 male and drones female, because no male creatures 

 make a habit of taking trouble over their young, 

 whereas in fact " bees " do. But generally, since it 

 is apparent that the brood of the drones is produced 



335 



