POLYMORPHISM IN SPECIES. 193 



August, September, and the first half of October, 

 the young queens fly away from the nest, settle on 

 flower stems, broad leaves, fences or walls in the 

 sun, and are there sought by the drones of their own 

 or other nests, and fertilised during flight. When 

 the young queens are all thus in a condition which 

 enables them to found new colonies in the following 

 year, the whole family gradually disperses. 



"The influence of nutrition is here directly before 

 our eyes. The first brood of workers, laid at a 

 time when the queen has to do everything her- 

 self, or with the aid of a few workers, can, of 

 course, not be so well fed as the second brood, 

 produced when the whole of the first brood render 

 assistance. This better nourished brood, according 

 to Hoffer, have developed sexual organs ; their 

 more highly nourished condition shows itself also 

 in their greater size, and they sometimes lay eggs 

 from which females are hatched, which must, there- 

 fore, be fertilised. Lastly follow the young queens, 

 vi^hose larvEe, with the assistance of both broods 

 of workers, can be fed best of all, and the eggs 

 of which have likewise received by fertilisation an 

 important addition of nutritive material." 



In this description we see a succession of three 

 different conditions of environment which act 

 upon the developing young bees, so that each 



