50 [ FEBRUARY, 
Queen! Now, the poison sac, with the sting and all its appendages, is entirely 
distinct from the sperma-theca, and can easily be recognized without the aid of 
the microscope. He does not seem to have examined, microscopically, the fluid 
in what he calls the seminal vesicle, in order to demonstrate, by the presence of 
spermatozoa, that it was the semen of the male. AsI am not aware that this 
has been done by any one else, I hereby communicate to the Academy the 
results of such an examination made last month, by Dr. Joseph Leidy of 
this city. 
The ace dissected was taken from an observing hive in which she had been 
lodged in the Summer of 1851, having accompanied a first swarm from a hive 
which had been swarmed in 1850. I am certain that she was not a Queen of 
the current year, for she commenced ovi-depositing in the empty cells which the 
hive contained, the same day in which she was put into it; whereas young 
Queens, which are not impregnated until after they are established as heads of a 
new colony, do not begin to lay until after the lapse of several days. I know 
that she was the same Queen lodged by me in the hive, as the bees were in a 
hive of my own invention, in which they were exposed to the full light of day, 
and were under constant inspection. She was therefore nearly two years old. 
The males in this colony had all been killed in August and there was not one 
in the hive (Jan. 27th) when she was taken from it. 
Plate XIX in Swammerdam’s History of Insects, represents very accurately 
all the parts which were particularly examined. The small globular vessel 
(fig. 3-t.) which Swammerdam thought secreted a mucous fluid to attend the 
eggs to the bottom of the cells, was found to be the true sperma-theca. Its 
internal diameter was the 1-33d of an inch, and it was distended with a whitish, 
viscous fluid which, when examined by the microscope, was found to be filled 
with spermatozoa. 
I consider, therefore, that this dissection demonstrates that the Queen bee has 
a reservoir in which the semen of the male is lodged, and that the eggs are im- 
pregnated as they pass by the duct leading from the sperma-theca into the 
oviduct. ’ 
Note.--Since this paper was written, Dr. Leidy has examined two more Queen bees, 
each of which had the sperma-theca distended with the spermatic fluid. These Queens 
were both reared last Summer from eggs in worker combs, which were furnished to 
colonies deprived of a Queen. ‘The construction of the hives allowed the whole precess 
to be distinctly seen. 
Mr. Jacob Peirce exhibited a hybrid fowl, being a cross between the 
Peacock and Guinea Hen. The specimen was one of four which had 
been hatched and raised on the farm of Mr. David West, in Chester Co., 
between Kimberton and the Yellow Springs, Pa. 
ELECTIONS. 
Dr. Joseph Hopkinson, U. 8. Navy, Mr. William Struthers, and Mr. 
J. Da Costa, of Philadelphia, were elected Members; and 
Mr. J. W. Foster, U. 8S. Geologist of the Lake Superior District, and 
Mr. J. D. Whitney, of the same district, were elected Correspondents of 
the Academy. 
