MANUAL OP THE APIARY. 87 



the defensive organ, having no sting, while their special sex- 

 organs (Fig. 10) are not unlike tljose of other insects, and have 

 already been sufficiently described. 



It was discovered by Dzierzon, in 1845, that the drones 

 hatch from unimpregnated eggs. This strange phenomenon, 

 seemingly so incredible, is as has been shown in speaking of 



Tig. 18. 



Part of Leg of Drone, magnified. 



t— Tibia. t s— Jokits of Tarsus, 



p— Broadened tibia and basal tarsus. c— Claws. 



the queen, easily proved and beyond question. These eggs 

 may come from an unimpregnated queen, a fertile worker — 

 which will soon be further described — or from an impregnated 

 queen, which may voluntarily prevent impregnation. Such 

 eggs may be placed in the larger horizontal cells (Fig. 28, a), 

 in manner already described. As stated by Bevan, the drone 

 feeds six and a half days as a larva, before the cell is capped. 

 The capping of the drone-cells is very convex, and projects 

 beyond the plane of the same in worker-cells, so that the 



