Bramble-bees and Others 



of the cell that has to be stocked. Every- 

 thing would then be limited to a judicious se- 

 lection from the heap of eggs. 



Should this idea occur to him, the reader 

 must hasten to reject it. Nothing could be 

 more false, as the merest reference to ana- 

 tomy will show. The female reproductive 

 apparatus of the Hymenoptera consists gen- 

 erally of six ovarian tubes, something like 

 glove-fingers, divided into bunches of three 

 and ending in a common canal, the oviduct, 

 which carries the eggs outside. Each of these 

 glove-fingers is fairly wide at the base but 

 tapers sharply towards the tip, which is 

 closed. It contains, arranged in a row, one 

 after the other, like beads on a string, a cert- 

 ain number of eggs, five or six for instance, 

 of which the lower ones are more or less de- 

 veloped, the middle ones half-way towards 

 maturity and the upper ones very rudimentary. 

 Every stage of evolution is here represented, 

 distributed regularly from bottom to top, 

 from the verge of maturity to the vague out- 

 lines of the embiyo. The sheath clasps its 

 string of ovules so closely that any inversion 

 of the order is impossible. Besides, an in- 

 version would result in a gross absurdity : the 



156 



