loS The Worker Bees. 



the abortive ovaries (Fig. 33), are undeveloped females. 

 Rarely, and probably very rarely except when a colony 

 is long or often queen less, as is frequently true of our nuclei 



Fig 



Worlcer-Bee^ much ma^tnjied. 



these bees are so far developed as to pi'oduce eggs, which, 

 of course, would always be drone eggs. Such worker?— 

 known as " fertile " — were first noticed by Riem, while 

 Huber saw one in the act of egg-laying. Paul L. Viallon 

 and others have seen the same thing.often. Several fertile 

 workers, sent me by Mr. Viallon, were examined and the 

 eggs and ovaries (Fig. 34.) were plainly visible. Leuckart 

 found, as seen in thefigure, the rudiment of the spermatheca 

 in both the common and the fertile worker. Except in the 

 power to produce eggs, they seem not unlike the other work- 

 ers. Huber supposed that these were reared in cells contigu- 

 ous to royal- cells, and thus received royal food by accident. 

 The fact, as stated by Mr. Quinby, that these occur in col- 

 onies where queen-larvse were never reared is fatal to the 



