1881.] The Relation of Apiculture to Science. 197 
eggs passed by. As there would be no such pressure from the 
larger drone cells, the spermatozoa would not be extruded from 
the spermatheca. Practical bee-keepers have shown this to be 
untrue. 
Queens have been seen to lay eggs in the still larger queen 
cells, which eggs are always impregnated. The queen often lays 
in worker cells, where the walls are but just commenced, and 
where there is no compression; yet such eggs are always im- 
pregnated. That the bringing of the sperm cells into connection 
with the germ cells, or the withholding of them, as the eggs are 
to produce females or males, is a matter of volition with the 
queen, is sustained by the muscular character of the spermatheca. 
It is a curious fact, that young queens, when they first commence 
to lay, often put several drone eggs into worker cells, though 
after the first day or two, they generally deposit only impregnated 
eggs for the first season. It seems probable, that the muscles of 
the seminal sack of the queen do not act efficiently till somewhat 
in practice. 
An anomalous physiological fact is illustrated in the flight 
of the queen when swarming takes place. Though she may 
not have used her wings since her marriage flight, possibly for 
two or more years, yet the muscles are by no means atrophied, 
as shown by her rapid flight, often for several miles, en route to 
her future home. 
The reason why a few impregnated eggs develop into queens, 
while thousands of the same produce worker bees, appears to be 
wholly due to quality and quantity of food. They receive much 
more and much richer food. The enlarged cell is necessary to a 
full sized queen, but not to a queen. The exceptional position of 
queen cells is simply for convenience, as it is not important. | 
Direct observation, as also her removal from the hive, shows 
that the only function of the queen is to lay eggs. 
I have known a queen to lay with no abatement of fertility for 
five years, though often in one or two years she ceases to 
be prolific, either from her own impotency, or from a depletion of © 
the spermatheca, in which case only drone bees are produced. 
Usually the worker bees arrange to supercede the queen before 
she becomes an exclusive drone producer. 
Common observation proves that the drones are males, that 
they are great eaters, and that they have no function in the 
