84 Fertile Workers. 



as to produce eggs, which, of course, would always be drone 

 'eggs. Such wor ke rs— known as " fertile " —were tirsTnoticed 

 "ByKiem, while "Huber saw one' in the act of egg-laying. 

 Paul L. Viallon and others have seen the same thing often. 

 Several fertile workers, sent me by Mr. Viallon, were examin- 

 ed and the eggs and ovaries were plainly visible, though no 

 spermatheca was to be seen. Except in the power to pro- 

 duce eggs, they seem not unlike the other workers. Huber 

 supposed that these were reared in cells contiguous to royal 

 cells, and thus received royal food by accident. The fact, as 

 stated by Mr. Quinby, that these occur in colonies where 

 queen-larvse were never reared is fatal to the above theory. 

 Langstroth and Berlepsch thought that these bees, while larvae, 

 were fed, though too sparingly, with the royal aliment, by 

 bees in need of a queen, and hence the accelerated develop- 

 ment. Such may be the true explanation. Yet if, as some 

 apiarists aver, these appear where no brood has been fed, and 

 so must be common workers, changed after leaving the cell, 

 as the result of a felt need, then we must conclude that develop- 

 ment and growth — as with the high-holder — spring from de- 

 sire. The generative organs are very sensitive, and exceed- 

 ingly susceptible to impressions, and we may yet have much 

 to learn as to the delicate forces which will move* them to 

 growth and activity. Though these fertile workers are a poor 

 substitute for a queen, as they are incapable of producing any 

 bees but drones, and are surely the harbingers of death and ex- 

 tinction to the colony, yet they seem to satisfy the workers, for 

 usually the workers will not brook the presence of a queen when 

 a fertile worker is in the hive, nor will they suffer the existence 

 in the hive of a queen-cell, even though capped. They seem 

 to be satisfied, though they have very slight reason to be so. 

 These fertile workers lay indifferently in large or small cells — 

 often place several eggs in a single cell, and show their in- 

 capacity in various ways. Fertile workers seem to appear 

 more quickl y and in greater abundance in colonies of 

 (Jyprian and Syrian bees, afte r they become hopelessly queen- 

 less, than in Italian colonies. ~ 



The maxillae and labium of the worker bee are much 

 elongated (Fig. 22). The maxillse (Fig. 22, A, mx, mx) are 

 deeply grooved, and are hinged to the head by strong chiti- 

 nous rods (Fig. 22, A, c, c, St, St), to which are attached the 



