GLAND STRUCTURES. 85 



have generally fancied, but to minister to her 

 necessities ; and her weight from this time rises very 

 rapidly, her ovaries developing under the influence 

 of what I shall call chyle* food, which, two or three 

 days after impregnation, her stomach contains in 

 quantity, while all trace of pollen has disappeared ; 

 but if I be not correct, this is the period above all 

 others when large quantities of pollen should be 

 undergoing digestion. I have sacrificed many queens 

 just when at their very highest value, for the purpose 

 of settling, as far as may be, this important inquiry, 

 with results most uniform and confirmatory. Here, 

 too, I imagine we get the key to the retarded 

 laying, always noticed when a queen fails in im- 

 pregnation ; it is because the bees themselves fail 

 in administering that kind of nourishment which 

 stimulates the ovaries. And, in addition, we learn 

 how it is that the colony have under control the 

 laying powers of their queen, stimulating her or not, 

 as circumstances warrant. 



It is necessary now to observe that honey, like 

 sugar, is what the physiologist denominates a " force- 

 former," and, as such, is needed by the queen 

 to supply her activities, and so queens may be seen 

 to dip their heads into honey cells and there drink ; 

 while a queen not laying may be supported for some 

 time upon sugar syrup alone. 



The ducts of Systems No. 2 and No. 3 are so placed 



* System No. 1 Siebold has unfortunately called "salivary," in 

 ignorance of the facts to which I now call attention. Since this term 

 is verv misleading, I shall refer to this gland hereafter as the chyle 

 gland. 



