On Parthenogenesis. ] 40 J 



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into queens or workers, whilst the imfecundated eggs famish the 

 larves of the drones or males." The following are some of the 

 points of evidence adduced in support of this remarkable theory, 

 as given in a notice of the work in the Annals and Masrazine of 

 Natm^al History for July last 



"It is now generally admitted, even hy bee-keepers, that the queen 

 only copulates once, and that the supply of seminal fluid received at this 

 time, and stored up in the seminal receptacle, serves hr the fecundation 

 of the immense number of eggs which she deposits during the period of 

 her fertility, extending over several years. Sometimes, however, the stock 

 of spermatozoids appears to be exhausted before the life of the queen 

 comes to a close, and when this is the case she lays nothing but drone- 

 ^ggs, introducing confusion into the wonderfully harmonious arrange- 

 ments of the hive. This was found to be the case also with a queen 

 "v^'hich had been exposed to severe cold, with the view of destroying the 

 vitality of the sperm atozoids; of three queens thus treated, only one sur- 

 vived, and this afterwards laid nothing but dmne-oggs. Another queen, 

 whose abdomen had been injured so as probably to displace the seminal 

 receptacle, also produced drone-eggs exchjsively. Added to this, certain 

 workers, which as is well known, are merely abortive females, destitute of 

 copulative organs and of the seminal receptacle, and therefore incapable 

 of fecundation, are found to possess imperfectly developed ovaries, which 

 produce a very small number of eggs, and these, when deposited in the 

 cells, are said always to produce drones. For most of these facts, von 

 Siebold appears to have been indebted to the apiarians Dzierzon and 

 Von Berlepsch ; but perhaps the most remarkable observations are those 

 made by himself, in the microscopic examination of a considerable num- 

 I ber of newly-deposited eggs. In the majority of the eggs deposited ia 



worker-cells examined by him, he found spermatozoids ; sometimes as 

 I Tnany as foui^ In some instances these singular filaments still retained 



the power of motion. On examining twenty-seven drone-eggs laid by the 

 same queen which had furnished a portion of the female eggs, you 

 Siebold did not discover a single spermatozoid. 



Such is the outline of the results at which the distinguished author has 

 arrived ; and although many will perhaps be disinclined to give an unhesi- 

 tating adhesion to his views, there can be no doubt that his work is one of 



the most important that has appeared for a long time, one well worthy of 

 heing carefully studied by all physiologists, and one that must in the end 

 greatly advance the cause of science, if only by calling the attention of 

 observers to this singular and much neglected subject" 



J. Lubbock, Esq., of England, has recently examined the so- 

 called hibernating eggs of theDaphnia, and published his results 

 in a valuable paper in the Philosophical Transactions, for 1857. 

 These eggSj which he styles agamic eggs, are more abundant 

 than the ^'ephippial" eggs, usually regarded as the eggs of the 

 ordinary kind, and unlike' the latter, they possess the power of 

 development without impregnation. They are formed in the 

 ovaries like true eggs, either in front of or behind the ephippial 



SECOND SERrKS, VOL. XXIV, NO. 72. — NOV., 1957. 



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