96 Beekeeping 



mals known to the layman require fertilization (a union with 

 one of the reproductive cells of the male) before they can 

 develop, but there are many cases in which this is not neces- 

 sary and the development of the drone bee is of this char- 

 acter. The eggs which develop into females are, however, 

 fertilized. This difference has so important a bearing on 

 practical beekeeping that a discussion of it is reserved for a 

 future chapter. 



The egg of the bee is a small white cylindrical object 

 about -5^ of an inch long, somewhat larger at one end (future 

 head end) and slightly curved. It is deposited on the base 

 of the cell of the comb by the queen and is fastened in place 

 by a secretion. The head end of the future larva is always 

 formed away from the point of attachment. The egg is 

 covered by chorion, a thin, tough membrane, the surface 

 of which is ridged. These ridges are, however, quite minute 

 and are not so conspicuous as most illustrations of bee eggs 

 would indicate. In addition to the nucleus and surrounding 

 protoplasm, the bee egg contains a relatively large amount 

 of non-living stored food, yolk. The embryo is formed on 

 the convex side of the curve of the egg, which becomes the 

 ventral side of the larva. The fate of the various parts 

 of the egg is therefore in a sense determined. Because of 

 the presence of so much yolk, the early cells are not clearly 

 marked off from one another. 



Early embryonic development. 



Development consists of the repeated division of the egg 

 cell into numbers of united cells and of the rearrangement 

 and differentiation of the resulting cells to form definite 

 organs. As development proceeds, the cells become more 

 and more speciaUzed imtil the final adult condition is reached, 

 and even in the adult, certain changes in some cells continue 

 through the life of the individual. As cell division (or rather, 

 in this case, nuclear division, for the protoplasm is continu- 

 ous in the early stages) progresses, the nuclei move from 

 the interior to the surface. During the second half of the 



