THE QUEEN. 59 
the eggs which produce drones are like the worker-eggs.* 
With the aid of powerful microscopes we are still unable to 
detect any difference in the size or outside appearance of 
‘the eggs of the queen. 
141. These facts, taken in connection, constitute a per- 
fect demonstration that unfecundated queens are not only 
able to lay eggs, but that their eggs have sufficient vitality 
to produce drones. 
It seems to us probable, that after fecundation has been 
delayed for about three weeks, the organs of the queen-bee 
are in such a condition that it can no longer be effected ; 
just as the parts of a flower, after a certain time, wither 
and shut up, and the plant becomes incapable of fructifica- 
tion. Perhaps, after a certain time, the queen loses all de- 
sire to go in séarch of the male. 
There is something analogous to these wonders in the 
“‘ aphides’’ or green lice, which infest plants. We have un- 
doubted evidence that a fecundated female gives birth to 
other females, and they in turn to others, all of which with- 
out impregnation are able to bring forth young; until, after 
a number of generations, perfect males and females are pro- 
duced, and the series starts anew! 
However improbable it may appear that an unimpregnated 
egg can give birth to a living being, or that sex can depend 
on impregnation, we are not at liberty to reject facts be- 
cause we cannot comprehend the reasons of them. He who 
allows himself to be guilty of such folly, if he aims to be con- 
sistent, must eventually be plunged into the dreary gulf of 
atheism. Common sense, philosophy, and religion alike 
teach us to receive, with becoming reverence, all undoubted 
facts, whether in the natural or spiritual world; assured 
* Cheshire says that ‘‘ worker-egg’’ is a misnomer, since all worker-eggs 
are impregnated, and hence female-eggs. But the term is too intelligible and 
popular, for us to change it; since Cheshire himself bows before custom, and 
uses it. 
