People unfamiliar with insect anatomy--the public for whom I write--would probably give the following explanation of this marvellous prerogative of the Bee: the mother has at her disposal a certain number of eggs, some of which are irrevocably female and the others irrevocably male: she is able to pick out of either group the one which she wants at the actual moment; and her choice is decided by the holding capacity of the cell that has to be stocked.

Everything would then be limited to a judicious selection from the heap of eggs.
Should this idea occur to him, the reader must hasten to reject it.
Nothing could be more false, as the most casual reference to anatomy will show.

The female reproductive apparatus of the Hymenoptera consists generally of six ovarian tubes, something like glove-fingers, divided into bunches of three and ending in a common canal, the oviduct, which carries the eggs outside.

Each of these glove-fingers is fairly wide at the base, but tapers sharply towards the tip, which is closed.

It contains, arranged in a row, one after the other, like beads on a string, a certain number of eggs, five or six for instance, of which the lower ones are more or less developed, the middle ones halfway towards maturity, and the upper ones very rudimentary.