32 
1903.] PHILLIPS—A REVIEW OF PARTHENOGENESIS. 281 
drone egg, so that no sperm cell can reach the oviduct to fertilize 
the egg.’ 
During the active season the queen can under stress of circum- 
stances lay eggs at the rate of four a minute, although generally 
much slower, and in twenty-four hours can lay over 4000 eggs, the 
total weight of which is more than the weight of her own body. 
The eggs are laid at the bottom of the cells, the abdomen of the 
queen being put into the cell during the oviposition, and the eggs 
are attached to the middle point of the base of the cell by the end 
opposite the micropyle. In the hive the eggs are laid in what are 
known as brood cells, generally situated near the middle of the 
hive, these cells being used for the storing of honey when not used 
for larve. The cells from which the workers hatch are about one- 
fifth of an inch across, while those from which drones hatch 
measure about one-fourth inch; these being spoken of as worker 
and drone cells respectively. The royal or queen cells, in which 
queens develop, are shaped like an acorn and occupy about the 
space of three ordinary cells, these being built naturally only when 
the hive is queenless, when the queen is to be superseded by 
another on account of her age, or at the swarming season when the 
hive is to be divided. ‘The queen passes quickly from one cell to 
another, laying in each an egg which almost invariably develops 
according to the size of the cell. This necessitates a very fine 
manipulation of the entrance of the spermatheca or seminal recep- 
tacle, as the sex is dependent upon whether a spermatozoon is 
allowed to escape or not. 
Various theories have been advanced to explain the power of the 
queen to control the escape of the spermatozoa since we cannot 
believe that it is a conscious act, in spite of statements to that 
effect. A very plausible one is that the difference in the size of 
cells causes a difference in the pressure of the abdomen, and by a 
reflex nervous action, of the nature of which we know nothing, the 
muscles are contracted when the abdomen is put into a drone cell. 
Kiickenmeister was probably the first to advance this theory. In 
opposition to this Cook (1881) and many others cite the fact that 
queens lay fertile eggs in cells where the walls have not yet been 
built up, and in such cases pressure on the abdomen could play no 
part. We have not as yet been able to account for the nearly 
1 For a description of these parts of the queen see Cheshire, F. R. (1886). 
PROC. AMER. PHILOS. 80C. XLII. 174. T. PRINTED DEC. 14, 1903. 
