The Reproductive Processes and Parthenogenesis 183 
tozoa are forced on to the vagina. Cheshire 1 described 
this apparatus incorrectly by assuming that the muscles 
around the duct are sphincter muscles to hold back motile 
spermatozoa. The spermatozoa, according to Breslau, are 
not motile and no retaining muscle is needed. In copu¬ 
lation the spermatozoa are deposited by the drone in the 
vagina and must find their way to the spermatheca by 
this same duct. There is no special receiving duct as 
described by Cheshire. The spermatheca is not composed 
of muscle layers, as formerly supposed. 
Cheshire estimates that a normal vigorous queen may 
during her lifetime lay 1,500,000 eggs. Since mating occurs 
usually but once, those eggs which are fertilized must re¬ 
ceive spermatozoa from the supply stored up in the sperma¬ 
theca at the time of mating. Since at each expulsion of 
spermatozoa a considerable number pass out and all but one 
are wasted, it is necessary that an enormous number be 
stored originally. Cheshire estimates the number at 4,000,- 
000 but it is enough to know that millions are then stored. 
The marvelous feature of the phenomenon is that these 
minute cells are able to live for perhaps five years away from 
the animal in which they were formed (the drone) and at 
the same time are so highly specialized that they can take 
no nourishment. There is no multiplication of spermatozoa 
in the queen as has been hypothecated by various beekeepers. 
The formation of the eggs has been studied by Paulcke. 2 
In the early stages of the formation of the egg at the anterior 
end of the ovarian tubes, the future egg nucleus is surrounded 
by other nuclei which later form nurse cells. There is at 
first no visible differentiation, no cell boundaries being seen, 
but farther down the tube the nuclei are surrounded by cell 
walls. Gradually the future egg cells begin to enlarge and 
1 Cheshire, F. R., 1885. The apparatus for differentiating the sexes in 
bees and wasps. Jr. roy. micr. soc., ser. 2, V, pp. 1-15. 
2 Paulcke, W., 1900. Ueber die Differenzirung der Zellelcmente im 
Ovarium der Bienenkonigin (Apis mellifica). Zool. Jahrb. Anat. u. On tog., 
XIV, pp. 177-202. 
