The Life of the Bee 
solitary bees of the Gastrilegide family, 
that not only does the Osmia know in 
advance the sex of the egg she will lay, 
but that this sex is “optional for the 
mother, who decides it in accordance with 
the space of which she disposes ; this space 
being often governed by chance and not 
to be modified; and she will deposit a 
male egg here and a female there.” I 
shall not enter into the details of the 
great French entomologist’s experiments, 
for they are exceedingly minute, and 
would take us too far. But whichever 
be the hypothesis we prefer to accept, 
either will serve to explain the queen’s 
inclination to lay her eggs in workers’ 
cells, without it being necessary to credit 
her with the least concern for the future. 
It is not impossible that this slave- 
mother, whom we are inclined to pity, may 
be indeed a great amorist, a great volup- 
tuary, deriving a certain enjoyment, an 
226 
