82 MANUAL OP THE APIARY. 



the size of the cell determined the sex, as in the small cells 

 the pressure on the abdomen forced the fluid from the sperma- 

 theca. Mr. Quinby also favored this view. I greatly ques- 

 tion this theory. All observing apiarists have known eggs to 

 be laid in worker-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 

 unimpregnated, as the cell is very large. I know the queen 

 isometimes 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 

 weasy hours of watching — but that she can thus control at 

 the instant this process of adding or withholding the sperm- 

 cells, certainly seems not so strange as that the spermatheca, 

 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 tiny 

 yellow egg, can doubt 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 spermatheca, and at the same time add or withhold the 

 sperm-cells, is, I think, without question, 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. But the Baron of Berlepsch, worthy to be a 

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

 shown that old drone cells arp 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 some- 

 times lay drone-eggs in worker-cells, in which drones will then 

 be reared. And 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, especially if young, 

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

 cases, she drops them, when the bees show their dislike of 

 waste, and appreciation of good living, by making a breakfast 



