OR, MANTJAI, OF THB APIARY. 95 



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

 bee there are more than one hundred. In these tsbes the ova 

 or egg's 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 concen- 

 tric 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 Hymenop- 

 tera possess a very complex sting, saw, or 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 the copulatory 

 act. I think this curious fatality is limited to few species. 



To study viscera, which of course requires very careful 

 dissection, we need more apparatus than has been yet 

 described. Here a good lens is indispensable. A small dis- 

 secting-knife, a delicate pair of forceps, and some small, 

 sharp-pointed dissecting scissors — those of the renowned 

 Swammerdam were so fine at the point that it required a lens 

 to sharpen them — which may also serve to clip the wings of 

 queens, are requisite to satisfactory work. Specimens put in 

 alcohol will be improved, as the oil will be dissolved out, and 

 the muscles hardened. Formalin is much cheaper, and on 

 many accounts better than alcohol. It does not evaporate as 

 readily, and the specimens preserved in it do not smell offen- 

 sive. Placing specimens in hot water will do nearly as well, 

 in which case oil of turpentine will dissolve off the fat. This 

 may be applied with a camel's-hair brush. By dissecting 

 under water the loose portions will float off, and render effect- 

 ive work more easy. Swammerdam, who had that most 

 valuable requisite to a naturalist — unlimited patience — not 

 only dissected out the parts, but with small glass tubes, fine 

 as a hair, he injected the various vessels, as the alimentary 

 canal and air-tubes. My reader, why may not you look in 



