these last, the
oviducts to all appearance were but imperfectly developed, and more
address than we had acquired in dissection was necessary to distinguish
them.

Fertile workers never lay the eggs of common bees; they produce none but
those of males. M. Riems had already observed this singular fact; and
here all my observations correspond with his. I shall only add to what
he says, that fertile workers are not absolutely indifferent in the
choice of cells for depositing their eggs. They always prefer large
ones; and only use small cells when unable to find those of larger
diameter. But they so far correspond with queens whose impregnation has
been retarded, that they sometimes lay in royal cells.

Speaking of females laying male eggs alone, I have already expressed my
surprise that bees bestow, on those deposited in royal cells, such care
and attention as to feed the worms proceeding from them, and, at the
period of transformation, to close them up. But I know not, Sir, why I
omitted to observe that, after sealing the royal cells, the workers
build them up, and sit on them until the last metamorphosis of the
included male{I}. The treatment of the royal cells where fertile workers
lay the eggs of drones is very different. They begin indeed with
bestowing every care on their eggs and worms; they close the cells at a
suitable time, but never fail to destroy them three days afterwards.

Having finished these first experiments with success, I had still to
discover the cause of the expansion of the sexual organs of fertile
workers. M. Riems had not engaged in this interesting problem; and at
first I dreaded that I should have no other guide towards its solution
than conjecture. Yet from serious reflection, it appeared, that, by
connecting the facts contained in this letter, there was some light that
might elucidate my procedure in this new research.

From M. Schirach's elegant discoveries, it is beyond all doubt that
common bees are originally of the female sex. They have received from
nature the germs of an ovary, but she has allowed its expansion only in
the particular case of their receiving a certain aliment while a worm.
Thus it must be the peculiar object of inquiry whether the fertile
workers get that aliment while worms.

All my experiments convince me that bees, capable of laying, are
produced in hives that have lost the queen. A great quantity of royal
jelly is then prepared for feeding the larvae destined to