males found engaged in the body of our queens, hitherto called the
lenticular substance, may be denominated a penis both from its position
and use. The same surface is presented by it in the queen as in the body
of the male, which is proved by the position of the laminæ, e. e.
attached to the interior of the penis, when found in the queen. It is
evident, if the supposed inversion took place, the laminæ would be found
within the posterior part of the penis; and we should see them through
its membrane, by their concave side, instead of which the convex surface
is presented when in the vulva of females, the same as in the body of
the males. But what is the use of these laminæ? From their figure,
hardness, relative position with respect to each other, and their
situation at the extremity of the penis, we cannot doubt they are real
pincers. However, to ascertain the fact, we found it necessary to see
their position, and that of the penis itself in the females. For this
purpose, we prevented some of the queens from extracting the parts left
by the impregnating males, and by dissection we discovered that the
laminæ were pincers as we had conjectured.
The penis was situated under the sting of the queens, and pressed
against the upper region of the belly. It was supported by the posterior
end, against the extremity of the vagina, or excretory canal. There we
were sensible of the motion and use of the scaly pieces. Their
extremities were separated a little more than in the male, and pressed
between them some of the female parts below the excretory canal. The
extreme minuteness of these parts prevented us from distinguishing them
clearly, but the effort necessary to separate and remove the penis from
the female, satisfied us of the use of these laminæ.
Inspecting a male from above, the convex side of the plates, e. e. is
presented, and the summit of the angle formed by their origin. When in
the body of the female, they are in the inverse position; what was above
in the male is now below, and the extremity of the pincers directed
upwards. This makes us suspect that in copulation the male mounts on the
back of the female, but we are far from asserting it positively. It may
be asked whether that part we call the penis, is the sole part
introduced into the female during copulation? We have carefully
investigated this, and can affirm, that it is the only one of all those
described by M. de Reaumur, which has been found in our females. But we
have discovered a new part that escaped both him and Swammerdam, which
appears from the following experiment.
Separating the lenticular substance from the excretory canal, where it
was attached, we drew along with it a white body, adhering by one
extremity, and having the other engaged in the vagina. Towards the end
of the lentil, where the substance adhered, it appeared cylindrical,
then it swelled, and again contracted, to dilate anew in a greater
degree than at first; afterwards it contracted and terminated in a
point. A powerful magnifier was required to see all this. When pulled
from the lenticular body, the part was commonly broke, and also when
extracted by the queens from themselves. The figure and situation seemed
to authorise our considering it the penis itself, and the lenticular
body only an appendage. But the last queen we examined exhibited a
peculiarity that induced us to doubt the fact, and led us to suspect
that this body is nothing else than the seminal fluid itself, moulded
and coagulated in the vagina, and which from its viscosity adheres to
the lenticular substance, and accompanies it when separated from the
vagina. In this queen was found a little extravasated white matter, near
the opening of the vagina. This, though at first liquid, soon coagulated
in the air as the seminal fluid of drones does. In separating the
lenticular body from the vagina, we drew along with it a thread which
broke near the lentil; and seemed of too little consistence for the
penis of a male. The lenticular bodies, found in our queens, appeared
larger than in the males we dissected, and we have remarked with M. de
Reaumur, that these parts are not of equal size in every male.
* * * * *
_Experiment 1._--On the tenth of July, we set successively at liberty
three virgin queens four or five days old. Two flew away several times;
their absence was short and fruitless. The third profited better by her
liberty; she departed thrice; the first and second time her absence was
short; but the third lasted thirty-five minutes. She returned in a very
different state; and in such as allowed no doubt of her employment, for
she exhibited the part of a male that had rendered her a mother. We
seized her wings with one hand, and in the other received the
lenticular body, of which she had disengaged herself with her claws. The
posterior part was armed with two pincers, e. e. shelly and elastic,
which could be drawn asunder, and then resumed their original position.
Towards the anterior part of the lentil appeared the fragment of the
root of the penis; this canal had broke half a line from the lenticular
body. We allowed the queen to enter her habitation, and adapted the
entrance so that she could not leave it unknown to us.
On the seventeenth we found no eggs in the hive; the queen was as
slender as the first day; therefore the male, with which she had
copulated, had not impregnated her eggs. She was again set at liberty;
after twice departing, she returned with evidence of a second
copulation. We then confined her, and the eggs she afterwards laid
proved that the second copulation had been more successful than the
first and that there are some males more fit for impregnating queens
than others. However, it is very rare that the first copulation is
inefficient; we have only seen two that required it twice; all the rest
were impregnated by the first.
* * * * *
_Experiment 2._--On the eighteenth we put at liberty a virgin queen
twenty-seven days old, she departed twice. Her second absence was
twenty-eight minutes, and she returned with the proofs of copulation. We
prevented her from entering, and put her under a glass to see how she
would disengage the male organs. This she was unable to accomplish,
having only the table and sides of the glass for support; therefore we
introduced a bit of comb; thus providing the same conveniences as are in
a hive. Fixing herself on _it_ by the first four legs, she stretched out
the two last, and extending them along her belly seemed to press it
between them. At length introducing her claws between the two parts of
the last ring, she seized the lenticular body, and dropped it on the
table. The posterior part was provided with shelly pincers, under which
and in the same direction was a grey cylindrical body. The end farthest
from the lentil was sensibly thicker than that adhering to it, and
terminated in a point. This point was double, and open like the bill of
a bird, which induces us to think the body was broken, a conjecture
supported by the following experiment.
* * * * *
_Experiment 3._--On the nineteenth we set at liberty a queen four days
old; she departed twice; her first absence was short; the second lasted
thirty minutes, and then she returned with the marks of fecundation. As
we wished to obtain the male organs entire, it was necessary to prevent
the queen from breaking them by extracting them with her feet; we
therefore suddenly killed her, and cut off the last rings in order to
lay the vulva open. But though deprived of animation, so much life
remained in these parts that the lenticular body was thrown out
spontaneously. Under the pincers appeared the remnant of a cylindrical
body which had broken near the origin and remained in the female. This
body was very small at the origin; it afterwards sensibly enlarged; next
contracting by degrees, it terminated in a sharp point. We found the
point engaged up to the gland in the excretory canal, and the rest in
the vulva.
* * * * *
_Experiment 4._--We set two virgin queens at liberty on the twentieth.
The first had been abroad on the preceding days, but the scarcity of
males prevented her from being previously fecundated. She returned with
the organs of a male. We tried to prevent her from extracting them, but
she did this so expeditiously with her feet, that we could not
accomplish it. She was then allowed to enter the hive.
The second queen departed twice. Her first absence was short as usual;
the second lasted about half an hour, and she returned impregnated.
Having killed her as suddenly as possible, we laid open the vulva. The
lenticular body was deposited as in every queen hitherto dissected; the
pincers were situated under the excretory canal. Some parts not easily
distinguishable were pressed between the laminæ, and their office seemed
to consist in forcing the extremity of the lentil to approach the
orifice of the vagina, and apply so forcibly to it that some exertion
was necessary to separate them. We previously examined them, with a very
powerful magnifier. Then a peculiarity which had escaped us was
perceptible. In drawing out the lenticular body, there proceeded from
the vagina a minute part, v. adhering to the posterior end of the
lentil, and situated below the plates. It spontaneously retracted into
the lentil, like the horns of a snail. It appeared white, very short,
and cylindrical. Under the pincers was a little half coagulated seminal
fluid at the bottom of the vulva. Though much could be expressed, there
was none pure; it was almost liquid, but soon coagulated, and formed a
whitish inorganic mass. This observation carefully made removed all our
doubts, and demonstrated that what we had taken for the penis of males
was nothing but the seminal fluid, which had coagulated and assumed the
interior figure of the vagina. The only hard part introduced by the
male, was the short cylindrical point which retracted into the lentil,
when we separated it. Its situation and office prove that it is there we
must look for the issue of the seminal fluid, if we can hope to find an
opening, when not engaged in copulation.
We found this new part in the first drone we dissected. By pressing the
seminal vessels, the white liquid then escaped downwards to the root of
the penis r. and into the lenticular body, l. i. which became sensibly
swoln. We prevented the fluid from returning, and by new pressure of the
lentil forced it to advance. However, none escaped, but we saw at the
posterior end of the lenticular body, and under the scaly pincers, a
small white cylindrical substance, the same in appearance as that we had
found engaged in the vagina of the queen. This part retracted on
pressure, and then returned.
I request you, Sir, while perusing this letter, to inspect the figure of
the male sexual organs published by M. de Reaumur, and which are copied
here. The descriptions are most accurate, and present a just idea of the
situation of these parts when in the male's body. We readily conceive
how they appear when left in the female by copulation. This detail will
sufficiently indicate the situation and figure of the new part I have
discovered.
I suspect that the males perish after losing their sexual organs. But
why does nature exact so great a sacrifice? This is a mystery which I
cannot pretend to unveil. I am unacquainted with any analogous fact in
natural history, but as there are two species of insects whose
copulation can take place only in the air, namely, ephemeræ and ants, it
would be extremely interesting to discover whether their males also
lose their sexual parts, in the same circumstances, and whether, as with
drones, enjoyment in their flight is the prelude of death.
FINIS.
FOOTNOTES:
{O} Memoires sur les Abeilles, p. 450.
{P} Such long and minute descriptions can be very imperfectly
translated; indeed they are unintelligible without microscopical
inspections of the parts themselves.--T.
ANALYTICAL INDEX.
Description of a hive invented by the author page 4
Swammerdam's opinion on the fecundation of bees 8
Sentiments of M. de Reaumur 10
Mr Debraw's opinion 11
Hattorf's opinion 19
Difficulty of discovering the mode of impregnation 22
Experiments on the subject 23
Suggestions by M. Bonnet 34
The queen is impregnated by copulation, which never takes place
within the hive 41
Experiments on artificial fecundation have not succeeded 42
The male loses the sexual organs in copulation 43
Regarded impregnation affects the ovaries of the queen 45
She then lays no eggs but those producing males 47
One copulation impregnates all the eggs the queen will lay in
two years 54
Fecundity of a queen 63
Common bees do not transport the queen's eggs 66
They sometimes eat them 69
Eggs producing males are sometimes laid in royal cells 71
Common worms may be converted into queens 77
Operations of the bees when this is done 78
Fertile workers sometimes exist 89
They lay none but the eggs of males 96
All common bees are originally females 98
Receiving the royal food while larvæ, expands their ovaries 105
Mutual enmity of queens 110
The common bees seem to promote their combats 117
A guard is constantly at the entrance of the hive 123
What ensues when bees lose their queen 126
Effects of introducing a stranger queen 128
Massacre of the males 132
It never ensues in hives deprived of queens 135
A plurality of queens is never tolerated 142
The queen bee is oviparous 149
Bees seem occasionally to repose 150
Interval between production of the egg and the perfect state
of bees 151
Mode of spinning the coccoon 153
That of the queen is open at one end 154
The size of the bees is not affected by that of the cells 167
The old queen always conducts the first swarm 173
But never before depositing eggs in the royal cells 177
Singular effect of a sound emitted by perfect queens 189
The instinct of bees is affected during the period of swarming 208
Queens are liberated from their cells according to their age 214
The bees probably judge of this by the sound emitted 217
Young queens conducting swarms are virgins 221
The conduct of bees to old queens is peculiar 224
Retarded impregnation affects the instinct of queens 241
Amputation of the antennæ produces singular effects 245
Advantages of the leaf hive 253
It renders the bees tractable 256
They may there be forced to work in wax 264
Uniform distance between the combs 265
Natural heat of bees 269
Distance to which they fly 271
Appendix 273
Anatomical observations on the sexual organs of bees 276
Experiments proving the copulation of the queen 290
ALEX. SMELLIE, Printer.
{Transcriber's notes
The spelling in the original is sometimes idiosyncratic. It has not
been changed, but a few obvious errors have been corrected. The
corrections are listed below.
Inconsistent spellings include:
Lusace/Lusaçe, centre/center, choose/chuse,
organisation/organization, recognise/recognize
Unusual spellings (which have not been changed) include:
centinels, coccoon, diaphraghm, encreased, encreasing, groupes,
harrassed, inaccessible, incontestible, indispensible, moveable,
perceptible, susceptible, uncontrouled, unintelligible
Letter I
"secret distinctive characterestics" changed to
"secret distinctive characteristics"
Letter II
"the copulalation of queens" changed to
"the copulation of queens"
Letter IV
"The worms had spun their silk coccons" changed to
"The worms had spun their silk coccoons"
Letter V
"characteristics of commo nbees" changed to
"characteristics of common bees"
Letter VI
"The result of this rencounter" changed to
"The result of this encounter"
"genius such as your's" unchanged.
"observing that the antennae" changed to
"observing that the antennæ"
"combats and disastrou scenes" changed to
"combats and disastrous scenes"
"M. de Reamur speaks of these executions" changed to
"M. de Reaumur speaks of these executions"
Letter IX
"Only the few bees that not participated" changed to
"Only the few bees that had not participated"
Letter XI
"these tumultous motions" changed to
"these tumultuous motions"
Letter XII
"one antennæ" unchanged.
"reside in them," changed to
"reside in them."
Appendix
"the cirumference is edged" changed to
"the circumference is edged"
"he could have proportioned the tortous canal" changed to
"he could have proportioned the tortuous canal"
"pressed between the laminae" changed to
"pressed between the laminæ"
}