56 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



could occur until about two-thirds of the abdomen, 

 or the parts behind the thorax, were thrust in ; thus 

 whatever pressure might occur, would be at a point 

 some distance from where this sac is located, and 

 would not necessarily influence it in any respect ; in 

 fact no pressure could occur by this process on the 

 part where this seminal sac is located, if the anat- 

 omy of the queen is properly illustrated by Lang- 

 stroth's microscopic view. 



There is another fact, however, in the practice of 

 the queen, which, I presume, has been noticed by all 

 apiarians, and is sufficient to show this theory to be 

 incorrect. When a top-swarm, that has the old queen 

 with them, is put in a hive, they immediately com- 

 mence building combs, generally worker cells ; the 

 queen follows them and deposits eggs in the cells, 

 when the foundation is laid and the side walls of the 

 cells are not more than one-sixteenth, and certainly 

 not more than one-eighth of an inch high. Is it 

 possible that the abdomen of the queen receives any 

 pressure from the sides of the cells whilst in the act 

 of thrusting her ovipositor into the cell to deposit the 

 egg! Is it probable she would receive any greater 

 pressure, in any possible contingency, in depositing 

 eggs in worker cells than in drone cells, when neither 

 of them is more than one-eighth of an inch deep ? 

 Eggs are frequently thus deposited, both in worker 

 and drone cells, the bees continuing to rear the cells 

 until of the proper length. Such a theory is, in my 

 opinion, simply absurd, but well calculated to amuse 

 the ignorant and unobserving. 



