NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY BEE. 45 



I could find no other brood in the hive. In making another 

 examination (August 9th) in order to remove this Queen and 

 give the colony another, I found the combs nearly filled with 

 worker brood, in a state considerably less advanced than the 

 drones I Is there any reason to doubt that these drone eggs 

 were laid by the Queen while yet unfecundated, and that 

 the worker brood was deposited by her after impregnation ? 



In Italy a variety of the honey bee described by Virgil is 

 still found, difTering considerably in size and color from the 

 common kind. If an unimpregnated Queen of this variety 

 is crossed with the common drones, her drone progeny will 

 all be Italian drones, while her worker brood will be a cross 

 between the two kinds ! thus showing that the kind of drones 

 which she will produce has no dependence upon the male 

 by which she is fertilized. 



These facts appear to constitute all the links in a perfect 

 chain, and to demonstrate, beyond the possibility of doubt, 

 that unfecundated Queens are not only capable of laying 

 eggs, (a thing no more remarkable than the same occurrence 

 in a hen,) but that these eggs are possessed of sufficient 

 vitality to produce drones. Aristotle, who flourished before 

 the Christian era, had noticed that there \yas no difference 

 in appearance, between the eggs producing drones and those 

 producing workers ; and he states that drones only are pro- 

 duced in hives which have no Queen ; of course the eggs 

 producing them, were laid by fertile workers. Having now 

 the aid of powerful microscopes, we are still unable to detect 

 the slightest difference in size or appearance in the-eggs, 

 and this is precisely what we should expect if the same egg 

 will produce either a Worker or a drone, according as it is 

 or is not impregnated. The theory which I propose, seems 

 perfectly to harmonize, with all the observed facts on this 

 subject. 



