![]() Does she do it by particular observation and an act of will, or are we rather to conclude that the different widths of the cells act upon her muscles in such a way as to fertilize the egg in one case and in the other leave it untouched? Is the queen using intelligence or is she a mere automaton? This is a point which remains a mystery.įor a long time after the facts had been determined, any such statement of the powers of the queen bee was received with skepticism not only among practical beekeepers but among scientists who had had other theories. There has been much speculation as to whether a queen discriminates between the large cells and the small by an act that is mental or by some influence that is purely physical. The modern microscope has enabled investigators to arrive at the inner facts, looking closely at queen bees and their eggs under the various conditions. That this is the truth of the matter has long ceased to be a matter of doubt. She holds in her body a lifetime supply of the sperm acquired in her wedding flight, and she can apply it or withhold it according as circumstances require. And the female eggs which she lays are the same as the others except that she has brought them into contact with a supply of the male principle. It is only for the production of daughters that the male help is necessary. But after she has met the male, in what is known as her ‘wedding flight,’ she can lay eggs of either kind.įrom this it becomes evident that the male eggs laid by a queen after she has been fertilized are eggs untouched by the father’s substance, being the same that she laid when she was a virgin. The virgin queen will have all sons and no daughters. But her eggs will produce only the drones, or males. But the fact takes place without explanation or apology and when we patiently look into other facts in hope of explaining this one, we find, as is so often the case with science, that we have stepped into a new theatre of wonders.Ī virgin queen - one that has by no possible chance become impregnated - can lay eggs and produce young quite as readily as an animal that has become a mother in the usual way. ![]() It does not fit in with our accustomed analogies. That an animal can have this ability to produce one sex or the other in conformity with some outer circumstance is rather hard to believe. She lays a male egg in each of the larger cells, and a female in each of the smaller. ![]() These latter, though practically neuter, because of their arrested sexual development, are essentially female.Īs each of these varieties of cells affords just enough room to accommodate a full-grown grub of the sex for which it is intended, it is necessary that each shall receive an egg according to its kind and in this particular the queen makes no mistake. HONEYCOMB is made up of cells of two sizes, the larger being used for the raising of drones, which are male, while the others serve for the smaller and more numerous workers. ![]()
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