THE BEE. 61 



pany us in a brief survey of tlie organs of the Queen 

 Bee, by means of which the hive is so rapidly and 

 effectively stocked. 



In describing the respiratory system of the Bee, 

 you will recollect it was mentioned that the two large 

 abdominal sacs which are always present in the worker 

 are absent in the queen ; and if you were Carefully to 

 dissect the body of the latter, you would find their 

 place occupied by two objects resembling miniature 

 bunches of grapes, that monopolize the greater por- 

 tion of the abdominal segment; these are the two 

 ovaries (PL VIII. figs. 1, 3, 3), or the receptacles 

 wherein the eggs are developed. 



They are bUateral, and composed of an assemblage 

 of tubes collected in a bundle, and all closed at one ex- 

 tremity (PL VIII. figs. 1, 2, 3, a) . At the other end {b) * 

 they open out into what may be popularly called a com- 

 mon trunk (scientifically the "proper oviduct" c,c), 

 being very small at the extreme end, and gradually 

 widening as they approach the aperture. At the 

 narrow ends of these tubes [a) the "germinal vesicles" 

 are formed, that constitute the reproductive element 

 in the eggs; and as these vesicles pass downwards, 

 or more correctly speaking backwards, to the proper 

 oviduct, they are increased in size by the addition of 

 the " vitelline matter," or, as it is commonly called, 

 the yelk. 



* See especially fig. 3, 6. Fig. 1 represents the ovaries in situ; 

 fig. 2, their general shape ; fig. 3, the portion connected with 

 the oviduct. 



