38 



NATURAL HISTOKT OF THE HONEY BEE. 



existence of a permanently impregnated mother wasp, is 

 just as difficult to be accounted for, as the existence of a 

 similarly impregnated Queen Bee. 



The celebrated Swam- 

 merdam, in his observa- 

 tions upon insects, made 

 in the latter part of the 

 sixteenth century, and 

 published after his death, 

 in 1737, has given a highly 

 magnified and exceedingly 

 accurate drawing of the 

 Ovaries of the Queen Bee, 

 a reduced copy of which 

 I here present to my read- 

 ers. The small globular 

 sac, communicating with 

 the oviduct, which he 

 thought secreted a fluid 

 for sticking the eggs to the base of the cells, is the seminal 

 reservoir or spermatheca. Any one who will carefully dis- 

 sect a Queen Bee, may see this sac, even with the naked eye. 

 It will be seen that the ovaries are double, each one con- 

 sisting of an amazing number of ducts filled with eggs, and 

 that the eggs gradually increase in size as they approach the 

 oviduct.* 





* Since the first edition of this work was issued, I have ascertained 

 that Posel, (page 54,), describes the oviduct of the Queen, the sperma- 

 theca and its contents, and the use of the latter in impregnating the 

 passing egg. His work was published at Munich, in 1784. It seems 

 also from his work, (page 36,) that before the investigations of Huber, 

 Jansha, the bee-keeper royal of Maria Theresa, had discovered the fact 

 that the young queens leave their hive in search of the drones. 



