THE SEXES OF EGGS. 23 



queen bee are never impregnated, tte male somen being 

 stored in a distinct vesicle called the spermatheca, a por- 

 tion of the contents of which, is either withheld from, or 

 communicated to, every egg as it passes through the ovi- 

 duct, and this difference determines the sex." If this is 

 true, it appears to us all but impossible to account for the 

 fact that impregnation makes a queen prolific ; that is to 

 say, causes her to lay ten times — nay, fifty times — more 

 eggs than a queen unimpregnated. 



If the impregnating matter is simply lodged in a dis- 

 tinct vesicle — not affecting the laying or productive powers 

 of a queen, but merely touches and femalises so many eggs 

 in passing through the oviduct — how comes it to pass that 

 unmated queens are nearly barren? Here is an insur- 

 mountable barrier or difiSculty in the way to Mr Wood- 

 bury's conclusions. 



DifSculties as insurmountable rise up before the mind 

 when it thinks of the mere mil of the queen determining 

 which eggs shall be laid male and which female in char- 

 acter. And by what muscles, voluntary or involuntary, 

 in the body of the queen, does she efiect the fecundation ? 

 Mr Woodbury believes in both the will of the queen and 

 the apparatus by which she carries it into execution in ' 

 the fecundation of her own eggs. We are slow to foUow 

 him. 



It is well known that a queen lives four years, and a 

 common worker nine months. It was stated to Mr Wood- 

 bury that the mere development of her sex could not pro- 

 long the life of a queen. He replies in these words : " It 

 seems to me also that the prolongation of the life of a 

 queen bee may not be the direct consequence of the fuU 

 development of her sex, but may arise from it in a 

 secondary manner — viz., from her exemption from outdoor 

 labour.'' Most people would think that the absence of 



