96 Egg-laying by ^ueen. 



cells, ere the cell was hardly commenced, when there could 

 be no pressure. In case of queen-cells, too, if the queen 

 does lay the eggs — as I believe— these would be unimpreg- 

 nated, as the cell is very large. I know the queen some- 

 times passes from drone to worker-cells very abruptly' 

 while laying, as I have witnessed such a procedure — the 

 same that so greatly rejoiced the late Baron of Berlepsch, 

 after weary hours of watching — but that she can thus con- 

 trol at the instant this process of adding or withholding the 

 sperm-cells certainly seems not so strange as that the sper- 

 matheca, hardly bigger than a pin-head, could supply these 

 cells for months, yes, and for years. Who that has seen 

 the bot-fly dart against the horse's legs, and as surely leave 

 the tin)' yellow egg, can doiibt but that insects possess very 

 sensitive oviducts, and can extrude the minute eggs just at 

 pleasure. That a queen may force single eggs, at will, 

 past the mouth of the sperm atheca, and at the same time 

 add or withhold the sperm-cells, is, I think, without ques- 

 tion, true. What gives added force to this view is the fact 

 that other bees, wasps and ants exercise the same volition, 

 and can have no aid from cell-pressure, as all the eggs are 

 laid in receptacles of the same size. As already remarked, 

 the males and workers of Apis dorsata are developed in 

 the same sized cells, while the males of A. Indica are smal- 

 ler than the workers. The Baron of Berlepsch, worthy to 

 be a friend of Dzierzon, has fully decided the matter. He 

 has shown that old drone cells are as small as new worker- 

 cells, and yet each harbors its own brood. Very small 

 queens, too, make no mistakes. With no drone-cells, the 

 queen will sometimes lay drone-eggs in worker-cells, in 

 which drones will then be reared, and she will, if she 

 must, though with great reluctance, lay worker-eggs in 

 drone-cells. 



Before laying an egg, the queen takes a look into the 

 cell, probably to see if all is right. If the cell contains any 

 honey, pollen, or an egg, she usually passes it by, though 

 when crowded, a queen will sometimes, es])ecially if young, 

 insert two or three eggs in a cell, and sometimes, when in 

 such cases she drojjs them, the bees show their dislike of 

 waste, and appreciation of good living, by making a break- 



