CHAPTER V 



PERMUTATIONS OF SEX 



THE sex of the egg Is optional. The 

 choice rests with the mother, who is 

 guided by consideration of space and, accord- 

 ing to the accommodation at her disposal, 

 which is frequently fortuitous and incapable 

 of modification, places a female in this cell 

 and a male in that, so that both may have a 

 dwelling of a size suited to their unequal de- 

 velopment. This is the unimpeachable evi- 

 dence of the numerous and varied facts which 

 I have set forth. People unfamiliar with in- 

 sect anatomy — the public for whom I write — 

 would probably give the following explana- 

 tion of this marvellous prerogative of the 

 Bee: the mother has at her disposal a certain 

 number of eggs, some of which are Irrevo- 

 cably female and the others irrevocably male; 

 she is able to pick out of either group the one 

 which she wants at the actual moment; and 

 her choice Is decided by the holding-capacity 



»5S 



