16 BEE CULTURE. 
character of this sac as the spermatheca, which contains the 
male semen; and Prof. Leuckart computes its size as suffi- 
cient to contain, probably, twenty-five millions of seminal 
filaments. It seems hardly possible that so large a number 
should ever be found in the spermatheca, as it would require 
nearly twenty years to exhaust the supply, if the queen 
should lay daily 2000 eges, 365 days in the year, and cach 
egg be impregnated. Hach egg which receives one of the 
seminal filaments in passing, will produce a worker or queen, 
while an unimpregnated ege will produce only a drone. The 
spermatheca of an unfecundated qucen contains only a trans- 
parent liquid with no seminal filaments, and the eggs of such 
a queen produce only drones, 
The Queen usually lays from February to October, but 
early in the spring she lays sparingly. When fruit and 
flowers bloom, and the bees are getting honey and pollen, she 
lays more rapidly. 
THE DRONES. 
These are non-producers, and live on the toil and industry 
of others. They are the males, and have no sting—neither 
tba 
Fie. 4.—The Drone Bee, magnified. 
have they any means of gathering honey or scereting wax, or 
doing any work that is even necessary to their own support, 
or the common good of the colony. 
The Drones are shorter, thicker and more bulky than the 
Queen, and their wings reach the entire length of their 
body. They are much larger and elumsier than the 
Workers, and are covered with short but fine hair. Their 
