THE QUEEN BEE 99 
not fertilised until the very moment of laying, and 
then only in the case of those laid in worker-comb: 
drone-eggs are never impregnated at all. Now, in 
all likelihood, as the queen is being driven over the 
combs, it is the size of the cell that determines 
whether the egg laid shall be male or female. When 
the queen thrusts her long pointed body into the 
narrow worker-cell, her position is a straight, up- 
right one, and the egg cannot be laid without passing 
over the impregnation-gland; but with the larger 
drone-cell the queen has room to curve herself, 
which is the means, I think, of the egg escaping 
without being fertilised. And so you see it is only 
the female bee that has two parents; the drone has 
no father at all.’’ 
