Female Organs of Insects. 75 



male fluid to the penis (Fig. 22, ^), through which it 

 passes to the oviduct of the female. Beside this latter 

 organ are the sheath, the claspers, when present, and, in 

 the male bee, those large yellow glandular sacs (Fig. 22, 

 «'), which are often seen to dart forth as the drone is held 

 in the warm hand. 



The female organs, (Fig. 23) consist of the ovaries 

 (Fig. 23, o o), which ai-e situated one on either side of the 

 abdominal cavity. From these extend the two oviducts 

 (Fig. 23, £>) which unite into the common oviduct (Fig. 

 23, Z?) through which the eggs pass in ■lepbsition. In the 

 higher Hymenoptera there is beside this oviduct, and con- 

 nected with it, a sac (Fig. 13, j d) called the spermatheca, 

 which receives the male fluid In copulation, and which, by 

 extruding its contents, must ever after do the work of 

 impregnation. 



This sac was discovered and its use suggested by Mal- 

 pighi as early as 1686, but its function was not fully dem- 

 onstrated till 1792, when the great anatomist, John Hunter, 

 show^ed that in copulation this was filled. The ovaries are 

 multitubular organs. In some insects, as fertile workers, 

 there are but very few tubes — two or three; while in the 

 queen bee there are more than one hundred. In these 

 tubes the ova or eggs grow, as do the sperm cells in the 

 vesicles of the testes. The number of eggs is variable. 

 Some insects, as the mud-wasps, produce very few, while 

 the queen white-ant extrudes millions. The end of the 

 oviduct, called the ovipositor, is wonderful in its variation. 

 Sometimes it consists of concentric rings, like a spy-glass, 

 which may be pushed out or drawn in; sometimes of a 

 long tube armed with augers or saws of wonderful finish, 

 to prepare for eggs; or again of a tube which may also serve 

 as a sting. The females of all Hymenoptera possess a 

 sting, a saw, or an ovipositor, which can be said of no other 

 order. 



Most authors state that insects copulate only once, or 

 at least that the female meets the male but once. Many 

 species like the squash-bug mate several times. In some 

 cases, as we shall see in the sequel, the male is killed by 



