104 K.u'Mtvv, nwwf-.hi-s/ii in Atofortfilj (ha Uvli^; 



Nat. 



hees similarly do not depart from the parental hive It is the true 

 kmalc, the queen, that leaves to found a new home-| This; rule ap- 

 rjfies also to human beings; the married daughters depart It found 

 new homes, but the virgin sisters remain wilfi the parents under the 

 nalal toof-lrec; SO do the bachelor sons. 



The bisexual brood of these highly-coloured virgins will emerge 

 in mid summer, and all will be. jet -black males and females. They 

 mate over the flowers, and the males soon disappear and die. The 

 lecurdated mother wilt depart from the parental nest to establish a 

 new colony elsewhere. In autumn, the progeny of the mated females 

 will mature, but they will lie invariably black virgins, and. in Out 

 cousse.. M*v children will be the highly coloured virgins of the spring 

 generation . 



In concluding my address. T am sure there is little need to assure 

 you that the problems presented by llaiictus are very difficult Lo 

 investigate, because of the maze of galleries which transect the 

 architecture in seemingly inextricable confusion. They constitute 

 w cll-nigh insuperable difficulties in following the activities of any one 

 .specific individual, no matter what system of identification i> used. 



All species dt* not have black males. Ar Portland, Victoria, tbere 

 hHvliitttf (Chloralktus) paraifhiiorplms Kaym. (//t...v.), the females 

 rji which are hardly distinguishable from Cltlontlictits dimorphns 

 Ravin, from Dundenong ; hut surjn'isinglv, Hit- males are as highly 

 coloured as the. females. Portland, alas! is a far cry from my home 

 for the meticulous study of a small bee, bur it is clearly evident that 

 vital gcnctical phenomena awair investigation. A diagram to explaui 

 thc genetieai inheritance oi the drone of the hive is easily constructed., 

 but the parthenoger.etic virgins cf llaiictus require a much more 

 complicated elucidation, 



I am not caller! upon to find an explanation for every observation, 

 hut if 1 am permitted to speculate, then I would aay that perhaps 

 the many species oi chlorahame bees probably derive as muuitioiis 

 jrom some basic stock, such ac. FlnlkfMs erxthrtcnts CklL, and 

 whether or not the male fe to be coloured is ilekrmined hy an 

 alteration of its genes, 



VICTORIAN SEDGE FLORA; CORRECTION 



In a recent -number of the Vittonon A : {ttu.nili.it |7j; 74 (S«nt, P95fiX] \ 

 r-TCfirtfcd RKytUfurtpfltp rugose- fVaJtt) 5 Cale as new to Victoria. Vlr. S J'. 



—J, H Wum-- 



