The Queen. 97 
Virgil’s power to write well was greater 
than his knowledge of Natural History, 
which is not surprising, since there were 
no microscopes in those days. 
To-day we know that if there are to be 
young bees, eggs must first be laid. 
Bees cannot be picked from trees or 
flowers, or any other object, and carried 
home. 
The queen-bee has to lay an egg for 
every one of the many bees that fill a hive. 
And now you can understand why Queen 
Apis is so exceedingly particular about using 
her sting; for her sting is her ovipositor as 
well. 
Ovipositor means egg-placer, for ov/ 
comes from a Latin word, meaning egg, 
and positor from another Latin word, 
meaning “to place.” It is with this that 
she places the eggs just where she wants 
them to be. 
The ovipositor is made very much like 
the sting of the worker; and as the eggs 
