25 
a thorough entymologist, and of great experience in 
dissecting queens under powerful microscopes, advances 
the following theory : “In the act of copulation the 
organ of generation is torn from the drone and re- 
tained by the queen for nearly three days, during this 
time the germ becomes ingrafted into the queen, and 
only the hull or crude portion is cast off ; through this 
germ or cion the queen is enabled to supply a continu- 
ous flow of spermatozoa, similar to a fruit tree which, 
by the ingrafting of different cions, can produce two 
or more different varieties on the same stem.” 
The eggs of bees are of a lengthened, oval shape, 
with a slight curvature, and of a bluish-white color. In 
the act of laying, the egg is besmeared with a glue-like 
substance which causes it to adhere to the upper side of 
the base of the cell, where it remains for three days 
unchanged ; on the fourth day they are hatched, and a 
small white worm can be seen at the bottom of the 
cell, surrounded with a white, transparent fluid, depos- 
ited in the cell by the nursing bees, and from which 
the worm nourishes ; on growing larger, it coils itselt 
up, until it forms a ring. About five days after hatch- 
ing from the egg, the bees seal over the cell with a 
brown cover, composed of bee-bread and wax : the 
out-side shape of these caps are convex, and cannot be 
mistaken from the caps of cells filled with honey, as 
they are of pure wax, of a lighter color, and concave 
in shape. 
