232 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



which will possess qualities both of father and 

 mother ; so that the tiny spermatozoon not only 

 differentiates the entire creature, but communicates, 

 unerringly, differences of species, or even mere 

 variety. The spermatozoa from Cyprian, Carniolian, 

 Italian, and English bees are to the most refined 

 microscopical examination identical, and yet they 

 contain differences which determine almost countless 

 variations in form, colour, size, instinct, capability, 

 and temper. In 1884 I made the extremely in- 

 teresting discovery, that spermatozoa, when within the 

 spermatheca, are subject to disease (see Diseases), 

 and, in one instance, in which hermaphrodite (page 

 208) bees occurred, this disease obtained in the 

 queen. Examples being so sparse, and the difficulties 

 of examination so great, it is not likely that this 

 fact will lead up to any generalisation ; but it is 

 most tempting to a spirit of speculation. If a sper- 

 matozoon converts that which would, in its absence, 

 have been a male, into a female, may not a defective 

 •spermatozoon only in part produce the change, so 

 that a mixed gender results ? So far as we know, 

 it is certainly in agreement with the evidence to 

 admit the possibility. 



That the spermatozoon enters the egg is certain, 

 for it may be found, if the latter be carefully ex- 

 amined immediately after deposition. Siebold,* by 

 crushing eggs which had immediately before been 

 deposited in worker cells, was the first to discover 



* Siebold " On True Parthenogenesis," p. 85 et seq., and " Partheno- 

 genfese chez les Insectes" {Annates des Sciences Naturelles, 4™e S<5vie, 

 1856, vol. vi.). 



