200 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



egg-producing capabilities in this genus are relatively 

 restricted. Since he has but one function, he is 

 needed only during the months when swarming may 

 be possible, so that, normally, in the winter he is non- 

 existent. 



The distinctive sexual organs consist of a pair of 

 testes (t, A, Fig. 41), communicating, by narrow tubes 

 (the vasa deferentia, vd), with the vesiculae seminales 

 (vs), which discharge, by their small extremities, into 

 the large mucous glands (mg), at whose junction 

 originates the ductus ejaculatorius (de), terminating 

 at — the beginning of the true organ of generation, 

 which, in the condition of repose, lies outside in, and 

 so within the cavity of the body ; while, in activity, it 

 assumes the form given at E. 



The testes are tender, white bodies, slightly flattened, 

 and much smaller in the adult drone than the ovaries 

 of the queen, to which they are homologous — i.e., 

 they are to the drone what the ovaries are to the 

 queen. They lie within the abdomen, at its upper 

 part, and on each side of the digestive organs. Sper- 

 matic tubes, or canals, to the number of about 300, 

 which open upon the vas deferens, make up nearly 

 the whole of their substance. 



In the male chrysalis the testes are already not 

 only existent, but of enormous size, equalling at this 

 time, perhaps, the ovaries of the queen. They lie over 

 the then blind intestine, toward the dorsal surface. 

 Their canals are, at this time, filled with spermatic 

 vesicles (sv, B, Fig. 41), and with filamentous sper- 

 matozoa, many of which are endowed with a lively 

 movement. (We must somewhat anticipate, by saying 



