AGAMIC REPRODUCTION OF BEES. 573 



race being effected by a comparatively small number of indi- 

 viduals. Thus, among the common Hive-Bees, the queen is 

 the only perfect female ; the drones are the males ; and the 

 workers are neuters. But these neuters are undeveloped 

 females, as is shown by the curious fact already mentioned 

 with regard to the capacity of their larvae for being developed 

 under certain conditions into queens ( 716). In the case of 

 the " queen-bee," as in the still more remarkable case of the 

 queen Termes (ZooL. 740), which will lay 80,000 eggs in 

 twenty-four hours, and will continue to do so at the same 

 rate for many weeks, a single generative act suffices for the 

 fertilization of a long succession of ova, though a large pro- 

 portion of these may have been undeveloped at the time of 

 its occurrence ; for the spermatic fluid is stored-up in a little 

 receptacle opening-off from the oviduct of the female, so that 

 a minute portion of it may come into contact with the eggs, 

 as they descend one after the other. But it appears from 

 recent inquiries, that the worker-eggs alone undergo this 

 fertilization, and that the drone-eggs are deposited without 

 receiving it ; and there is strong reason to believe that the 

 very same eggs may be developed either into workers or into 

 drones, according as they do or do not receive the influence 

 of the spermatic fluid. When engaged in depositing her 

 eggs, the queen moves over the cells of the comb, apparently 

 without any order, dropping an egg into each ; and it seems 

 to be determined by the size of the cells (those prepared for 

 the drone-eggs being of larger diameter than those destined 

 for the worker-eggs), whether or not this fertilizing act shall 

 be performed as the eggs descend. It has long been observed, 

 that queen-bees will occasionally deposit eggs without having 

 left the hive for the "nuptial flight" with the male ; and the 

 eggs thus deposited always prove to be drones. It has also 

 been observed that eggs are occasionally laid by workers ; 

 and of these also the products are always drones. Hence, it 

 seems certain that the drones are always developed from 

 agamic or unfertilized eggs ; and it would appear that these 

 very eggs, if fertilized by the male spermatic fluid, would 

 produce workers. This is one of the most curious discoveries 

 yet made in the physiology of Bees; and it remains to be 

 determined how far the same thing is true among other tribes 

 of Insects. 



