Drones Pure if ^ueen is Pure, 107 



ment, have fully and completely confirmed this theory. 

 Yet, if the irnpure mating of our cows, horses, and fowls, 

 renders the females of mixed blood ever afterward, as is 

 believed and taught by many who would seem most com- 

 petent to judge — though I must say I am somewhat skep- 

 tical in the matter — then we must look closely as to our 

 bees, for certainly, if a mammal, and especially if a fowl, is 

 tainted by impure mating, then we may expect the same of 

 insects. In fowls such influence, if it exist, nfust come 

 simply from the presence in the female generative organs 

 of the sperm-cells, or spermatozoa, and in mammals, too, 

 there is little more than this, for though they are vivi- 

 porouF, so that the union and contact of the offspring and 

 mother seem very intimate during the fetal development, 

 yet there is no intermingling of blood, for a membrane 

 ever separates " that of the mother from that of the fetus, 

 and only the nutritious and waste elements pass from one 

 to the other. To claim that the mother is tainted through 

 the circulation, is like claiming that the same result would 

 follow her inhaling the breath of her progeny after birth. 

 If such taint be produced, it probably comes through the 

 power of a cell to change those cells contiguous to it. That 

 cells have such power is proved every day in case of 

 wounds, and the spread of any disease. I can only say, 

 that I believe this whole matter is still involved in doubt, 

 and still needs more careful, scientific and prolonged 

 observation. 



THE NEUTERS, OR WORKER BEES. 



These, called « the bees " by Aristotle, and even by 

 Wildman and Bevan, are by far the most numerous indi- 

 viduals of the hive — there being from 15,000 to 40,000 in 

 every good colony. It is possible for a colony to be even 

 much more populous than this. (Lubbock says that there 

 are often 50,000 worker-ants in a nest.) These are also 

 the smallest bees of the colony, as they measure but little 

 more than one-half of an inch in length (Fig. 32). 



The workers — as taught by Schirach, and proved by 

 Mile. Jurine, of Geneva, Switzerland, who, at the request 

 of Huber, sought for and found, by aid of her microscope, 



