The Life of the Bee 
Here, yet again, there confronts us an 
enigma of the hive; and in this case one of 
the most unfathomable. We know that the 
virgin queen is not sterile; but the eggs 
that she lays will produce only males. It is 
not till after the impregnation of the nuptial 
flight that she can produce workers or 
drones at will. The nuptial flight places 
her permanently in possession, till death, of 
the spermatozoa torn from her unfortunate 
lover. These spermatozoa, whose number Dr. 
Leuckart estimates at twenty-five millions, 
are preserved alive in a special gland known 
as the spermatheca, which is situate under 
the ovaries, at the entrance to the common 
oviduct. It is imagined that the narrow 
aperture of the smaller cells, and the manner 
in which the form of this aperture compels 
the queen to bend forward, exercise a certain 
pressure upon the spermatheca, in conse- 
quence of which the spermatozoa spring 
forth and fecundate the egg as it passes. 
In the large cells this pressure would not 
take place, and the spermatheca would 
therefore not open. Others, again, believe 
that the queen has perfect control over the 
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