250 AN INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY 



undeveloped females. The latter, however, contain vestigial 

 reproductive organs which may even, under certain conditions, 

 become capable of producing eggs. The abdomen of the 

 queen is almost completely filled by the two ovaries (Fig. 142, Ov.). 

 Each ovary is made up of a great number of ovarian tubules (ov.) 

 containing eggs of various sizes, the largest at the posterior end. 

 Eggs pass from these tubules into the oviducts (Ou.D.), thence 

 into the vagina (Vag.), and out of the body by way of the genital 

 aperture. Opening into the vagina is a spherical sac, the sper- 

 maiheca (Spm.), rilled with spermatozoa received from the male 

 during copulation. 



SPEKMATOGENESIS. The maturation of the male cells of the 

 honeybee differs markedly from the usual type (p. 103), and 

 from that of the animals thus far described. The primordial 

 germ cells grow into spermatogonia as usual. The first sper- 

 matocyte division, however, which ordinarily results in two sec- 

 ondary spermatocytes of equal size, is a sort of budding process. 

 A small portion of the cytoplasm is pinched off and disintegrates. 

 The cell remaining, the secondary spermatocyte, retains all of 

 the chromatin originally contained in the spermatogonium. The 

 secondary spermatocyte now divides, producing one small cell 

 with half of the chromatin, but very little cytoplasm, and one 

 large cell. The small cell begins to develop into a spermatozoon, 

 but probably degenerates. The larger cell, which may now be 

 called a spermatid, metamorphoses into a single functional 

 spermatozoon (209, 210). 



OOGENESIS. It is now pretty well established that the eggs 

 which produce drones are not fertilized, while those that produce 

 the workers and queens are. The ripening of the latter is similar 

 to this process in other animals, but the maturation of the unfer- 

 tilized " drone egg " is unique. A full account of this process 

 has been published by Petrunkewitch (215). 



COPULATION. The spermatozoa are transferred from the 

 drone to the queen while the latter is taking her nuptial flight. 

 Usually from five to eight days after the queen emerges from her 



