Worker Bees. 83 



mammals, too, there is little more than this, for though they 

 are viviparous, 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 is pro- 

 duced, 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 Wild- 

 man and Bevan, are by far the most numerous individuals 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. 21.) 



Fig. 21. 



Worker-Bee, magnified. 



The workers — as taught by Schirach, and proved oy Mile. 

 Jurine, of Geneva, Switzerland, who, at the request or Huber, 

 sought for and found, by aid of her microscope, the abortive 

 ovaries — are undeveloped females. Rarely, and probably 

 very rarely except when a colony is long or often queenless, aa 

 is frequently true of our nuclei, these bees are so far developed 



