CHAPTER XXIII 
THE LIFE-CYCLE OF SOME HYMENOPTEROUS INSECTS 
It has been pointed out that in some cases parthenogenetic 
generations alternate with sexual ones, the last parthenogenetic 
generation giving rise both to male and female sexual forms. 
In other cases, unfertilized eggs may produce only one kind of 
individual, usually the male, and in a few cases this may be the 
regular method of production of the male sex. The best-known 
case of this sort is that of the honey bee. 
The queen bee leaves the hive, a few days after emerging from 
the royal cell, for her nuptial flight. She is followed by one or 
more drones, and union takes place in the air. Her receptacle 
becomes filled with sperm, and this supply lasts her for the rest 
of her life, that may extend over three or four years. The 
spermatozoa must remain alive during all this time, yet the 
oldest produce the same effect, so far as sex is concerned, as do 
the youngest. The receptacle, or spermatheca as it is called, 
opens by. a short tube into the oviduct. It has a muscular 
wall, and a few of the spermatozoa are supposed to be squeezed 
out as the egg passes the opening — at least in the case of eggs 
that are to become fertilized. 
A queen may produce half a million eggs in the course of her 
life, and must receive, therefore, at least as many spermatozoa, 
and probably more, since it is not improbable that several or 
many are set free for each egg. ‘The eggs are deposited in the 
brood cells or chambers of the comb that have been prepared by 
the workers. The queen thrusts her abdomen to tlie bottom of 
each cell, and deposits there an egg, that is attached at the end 
opposite to the micropyle, or opening through which the sper- 
matozoon enters. There are three kinds of brood chambers: 
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