TlIK QUEEN. 55 



upon insects, made in the latter part of the seventeenth 

 century, has jiivcn a hiiihiy niagnilied drawiiio- of the ovaries 

 of the queen-bee, a reduced copy of which we present 

 (Plate V) to our readers. Tlie small ti'lobulur sac (i*), com- 

 municating with the oviduct {E), which he thought secreted 

 a fluid for sticking the eggs to the base of the cells, is the 

 seminal reservoir, or s|)ermatheca. Any one who will care- 

 fully dissect a tiueen-bee, may sec this sac, even with the 

 naked eye. 



It will be seen that the ovaries {G and //) are double, each 

 consisting of an amazing number of ducts filled with eggs, 

 which gradually increase in size.* 



131. Huber, while experimenting to ascertain how the 

 queen w-as fecundated, contined some young ones to their 

 hives by contracting the entrances, so that they were more 

 than three weeks old before they could go in search of the 

 drones. To his amazement, the queens whose impregnation 

 was thus retarded never laid any eggs but such as produced 

 drones ! 



He tried this experiment repeatedly, but always with the 

 same result. Bee-keepers, even from the time of Aristotle, 

 had observed that all the brood in a hive were occasionally 

 drones. 



132. Dzierzon appears to have been the first to ascertain 

 the truth on this subject ; and his discovery must certainly 

 be ranked among the most astonishing facts in all the range 

 of animated nature. 



Dzierzon asserted that all impregnated eggs produce fe- 

 males, either workers or queens; and all unimpregnated ones, 



• Since the first edition of tliis -work was issued, we liave ascertained that Po- 

 BOl (page .W) describes the oviduct of the queen , the spermatheca and its con- 

 tents, and the use of the latter in impregnating the passing egg. His worls; was 

 puhllshed at Munich, in 17.S4 It seems also from his work ("A Complete 

 Treatise of Forest and Horticultural Bee-Culture," page 36), that before the 

 investigations of Huber, Jansha, the bee-keeper royal of Maria Theresa, had 

 discovered the fact that the young queensleave their hi vein search ofthe drones. 



