224 



BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



larger, furnishing drones, because she possesses the 

 extraordinary faculty of giving at will, or withholding, 

 spermatozoa from the egg about to be deposited. 

 Let us return to the study of her anatomy, for the 

 purpose of unravelling the mystery of the mechanism 

 by which this is accomplished. 



Fig. 44.— Part of Spermatheca and Valve, with Appendicular Gland 

 (Magnified Sixty times). 

 sp, Spermatheca deprived of Tracheal Coat ; c, duct ; a, a, a, b, b, b, Right and 

 Left Branches of Appendicular Gland ; t, t, Duct of Same ; d, d, d, Nerve 

 Connections ; e and /, Sphincter Muscles ; g, Muscle to Extend Valvular 

 Opening; h Muscle for Closing Valvular Opening ; i, Ganglion Lying Under 

 Muscle ; 7c, k, Duct for Spermatozoa ; I, I, Glandular Structure surrounding 



Taking a complete spermatheca, we turn it until 

 it presents an outline not unlike the back of a 

 man's head, carrying a pair of large and prominent 

 ears. The latter are the upper ends of the right 

 and left branches of a gland [a, a, a, b, b, b, Fig. 44, 

 and ag, Fig. 45), which are of considerable length, 

 and about y^-g-in. in diameter, and which are held in 



