THE SKXES OF EGGS. 9 



would create or produce organs of generation in the female, 

 by making an egg destined to be a worker into a queen 

 (a fact which, all apiarians admit), why not food and treat- 

 ment make a drone'!" We suggested some experiments, 

 with the hope that they would be fairly and widely tried. 

 We tried them ourselves, and in every experiment the 

 bees failed to hatch female eggs into drones, and drone 

 eggs into females. Mr Woodbury, and all of his way of 

 thinking on this question, are right, and we were wrong. 

 As soon as we were satisfied on the question, we published 

 our change of views in the columns of the ' Journal of 

 Horticulture,' and there gave an account of the experi- 

 ments which led to the change. A bit of drone-comb 

 containing eggs was placed amongst some bees which had 

 lost their queen, and were in a state of great commotion 

 and lamentation for theii loss, running hither and thither 

 in search of her. The hive contained no eggs of its own, 

 as the queen lost was a virgin one. As soon as the bees 

 found the eggs, they commenced at once to erect royal 

 cells around them, and became as calm and contented as 

 possible. The eggs became maggots in the royal cells, 

 and were covered with Hds at the proper time. On the 

 sixteenth day after the royal cells were formed, they were 

 cut out for examination. Only one of the maggots had 

 taken the insect form : all were dead. The bees made 

 a great effort, but failed to produce queens. In various 

 ways, and many times during the last few years, have we 

 had proof that queen bees lay both male and female eggs, 

 and that no treatment by the bees can alter the sex. 



It has been stated by more than one writer that the 

 ovaries of a queen are never impregnated, the matter of 

 the male being stored in a distinct vesicle called the 

 spermatheca, a portion of the contents of which is either 

 withheld from, or communicated to, every egg as it passes 

 through the oviduct — and this difference determines the 



