To our infinite
surprise, what we had supposed the residue of the prolific fluid,
actually proved the genital organs of the male, which separate from his
body during copulation, and remain in the female.

We procured a number of queens according to Schirach's method for the
purpose of dissection, and set them at liberty that they might seek the
males. The first which did so, was seized the instant she returned, and
without dissection spontaneously exhibited what we were so impatient to
behold. Examining the under part of the belly, we saw the oval end of a
white substance which distended the sexual organs. The belly was in
constant motion, by alternate extension and contraction. Already had we
prepared to sever the rings, and by dissection to ascertain the cause of
these motions; when the queen curving her belly very much, and
endeavouring to reach its extremity with her hind legs, seized the
distending substance with her claws, and evidently made an effort to
extract it. She at last succeeded, and it fell before us. We expected a
shapeless mass of coagulated fluid; what therefore was our surprise to
find it part of the same male that had rendered this queen a mother. At
first we could not credit our eyes; but after examining it in every
position, both with the naked eye, and a powerful magnifier, we
distinctly recognised it to be that part which M. de Reaumur calls the
_lenticular_ body, or the _lentil_, in the following description.{O}

'Opening a drone there appears a portion formed by the assemblage of
several parts, often whiter than milk. This on investigation is
found to be principally composed of four oblong pieces. The two
largest are attached to a kind of twisted cord, fig. 4. r, called by
Swammerdam the root of the penis; and he has denominated seminal
vessels, s. s. two long bodies that we are about to consider. Other
two bodies oblong like the preceding, but shorter and not half the
diameter, he calls the _vasa deferentia_, d. d. Each communicates
with one of the seminal vessels near, g. g. where they unite to the
twisted cord, r. From the other extremity proceeds a very delicate
vessel, which, after several involutions, terminates in a body, t. a
little larger, but difficult to disengage from the surrounding
tracheae. Swammerdam considers these two bodies, t. t. the testicles.
Thus there are two parts of considerable size, communicating with
oth