QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
137 
she is also the mother of the bees and the drones, laying in the course of a year 
many thousand eggs. The bees are the nurses, who are to co-operate in the 
breeding, and without their assistance the eggs prove abortive. They have it 
however in their power to effect the developement of the female egg, in the fol¬ 
lowing manner:—In the small cells the sexual property is lost, and it becomes a 
common bee ; in the royal cell it becomes a queen, or a most fruitful mother; 
and in the drone cell, a spurious mother drone. The male egg in the cell of the 
common bee becomes a bee devoid of sex, and in the drone cell, a drone, as the 
sole father of the whole family. This system will, therefore, stand as follows: 
Drones Queen or Mother Bee 
V--- * 
t - 
Male 
Imperfect destitute 
of sex 
Working Bees 
_ K _ 
--\ 
Female 
Perfect 
;_ 
t - 
Imperfect false 
drone mother 
Drones 
Perfect Queen 
Although this theory found considerable support, yet it was by no means con¬ 
sidered sufficiently explicit. Professor Hummel attacked it most violently, on 
the principle that it w'as at variance with every analogy of nature, to invest an 
insect with the power of altering the sexual character of a egg after its deposi¬ 
tion, and to impart a power which did not belong to it in its original nature. It 
is, however, not the least interesting part of the study of the bee, that this appa¬ 
rently insignificant insect has hitherto baffled all the research and ingenuity of 
man to discover the manner of its propogation; analogy presents no guide to 
the solution of their secret, and the result of every anatomical experiment has 
tended rather to mystify the subject than to conduct us on the road to truth.— 
R. Huish, Esq. Mag. Nat. Hist. 
PART III. 
MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 
I.—QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
Prices of Plants, &c. — I think on reference you will find that you are 
wrong in supposing you could not answer the query put by an Amateur, at page 
765, as to the selling price of Paeony Roots per dozen, on account of the adver¬ 
tisement duty. Without the name of the seller, the tax does not apply. At 
page 747, you mention the selling-price of a book. C. C. C. C. 
Vines in Pots. —Allow me to ask, if I can succeed in growing grapes in pots 
under a common frame, without any artificial heat; and if so, whether the Black 
Hamburgh would be proper for the purpose ? A Subscriber in Shropshire. 
Without doubt the Black Hamburgh would ripen well under proper treatment, 
but a further reply as to the mode of management in a future number. Cond. 
