21 
The fecundation of the queen once accomplished is 
efficacious during life, or so long as she remains healthy 
and vigorous, and she never afterwards leaves the hive, 
except when issuing with a swarm. The ovary, or egg- 
bag of the queen is not impregnated in copulation; 
but a small globular sac, called spermatheca, situated on 
the side of the ovaduct, the tube through which the 
egg passes in the act of laying, and communicating 
therewith. This sac becomes charged with the semen 
of the drone, called spermatozoa. All eggs germinated 
in the ovary of the queen tend to develop as males, and 
do develop as such unless impregnated by the male 
sperm while passing the mouth of the spermatheca in 
descending the ovaduct. In the act of laying an egg 
in a worker-cell, a compression of the abdomen of the 
queen takes place. By this compression, the egg in 
descending the ovaduct receives a very small portion of 
the spermatozoa, as it passes the mouth of the sperma- 
theca. In the act of laying an egg in a drone-cell, no 
such compression takes place, consequently the egg re- 
ceives no spermatozoa. Some of our modern writers 
advocate that the compression determining the sex of 
the bee is caused by a pressure from the sides of the 
cells. They say, “The worker-cells are so small that 
the abdomen of the queen, in laying the eggs in these 
cells, is slightly pressed by the side of the cells, while 
the drone-cells are large enough to admit the abdomen 
of the queen without that pressure.” I, myself, be- 
