登陆注册
4609600000027

第27章 THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SEXES.(7)

The walnut-sized nests are more trustworthy, for everything seems to indicate that they were built by a single Bee. Here females are found in the centre of the group and males at the circumference, in somewhat smaller cells, thus repeating what the Mason-bee of the Pebbles has told us.

One clear and simple rule stands out from this collection of facts.

Apart from the strange exception of the Three-pronged Osmia, who mixes the sexes without any order, the Bees whom I studied and probably a crowd of others produce first a continuous series of females and then a continuous series of males, the latter with less provisions and smaller cells. This distribution of the sexes agrees with what we have long known of the Hive-bee, who begins her laying with a long sequence of workers, or sterile females, and ends it with a long sequence of males. The analogy continues down to the capacity of the cells and the quantities of provisions. The real females, the Queen-bees, have wax cells incomparably more spacious than the cells of the males and receive a much larger amount of food. Everything therefore demonstrates that we are here in the presence of a general rule.

But does this rule express the whole truth? Is there nothing beyond a laying in two series? Are the Osmiae, the Chalicodomae and the rest of them fatally bound by this distribution of the sexes into two distinct groups, the male group following upon the female group, without any mixing of the two? Is the mother absolutely powerless to make a change in this arrangement, should circumstances require it?

The Three-pronged Osmia already shows us that the problem is far from being solved. In the same bramble-stump, the two sexes occur very irregularly, as though at random. Why this mixture in the series of cocoons of a Bee closely related to the Horned Osmia and the Three-horned Osmia, who stack theirs methodically by separate sexes in the hollow of a reed? What the Bee of the brambles does cannot her kinswomen of the reeds do too? Nothing, so far as I know, can explain this difference in a physiological act of primary importance. The three Bees belong to the same genus; they resemble one another in general outline, internal structure and habits; and, with this close similarity, we suddenly find a strange dissimilarity.

There is just one thing that might possibly arouse a suspicion of the cause of this irregularity in the Three-pronged Osmia's laying. If Iopen a bramble-stump in the winter to examine the Osmia's nest, Ifind it impossible, in the vast majority of cases, to distinguish positively between a female and a male cocoon: the difference in size is so small. The cells, moreover, have the same capacity: the diameter of the cylinder is the same throughout and the partitions are almost always the same distance apart. If I open it in July, the victualling-period, it is impossible for me to distinguish between the provisions destined for the males and those destined for the females. The measurement of the column of honey gives practically the same depth in all the cells. We find an equal quantity of space and food for both sexes.

This result makes us foresee what a direct examination of the two sexes in the adult form tells us. The male does not differ materially from the female in respect of size. If he is a trifle smaller, it is scarcely noticeable, whereas, in the Horned Osmia and the Three-horned Osmia, the male is only half or a third the size of the female, as we have seen from the respective bulk of their cocoons. In the Mason-bee of the Walls there is also a difference in size, though less pronounced.

The Three-pronged Osmia has not therefore to trouble about adjusting the dimensions of the dwelling and the quantity of the food to the sex of the egg which she is about to lay; the measure is the same from one end of the series to the other. It does not matter if the sexes alternate without order: one and all will find what they need, whatever their position in the row. The two other Osmiae, with their great disparity in size between the two sexes, have to be careful about the twofold consideration of board and lodging. And that, Ithink, is why they begin with spacious cells and generous rations for the homes of the females and end with narrow, scantily-provisioned cells, the homes of the males. With this sequence, sharply defined for the two sexes, there is less fear of mistakes which might give to one what belongs to another. If this is not the explanation of the facts, I see no other.

The more I thought about this curious question, the more probable it appeared to me that the irregular series of the Three-pronged Osmia and the regular series of the other Osmiae, of the Chalicodomae and of the Bees in general were all traceable to a common law. It seemed to me that the arrangement in a succession first of females and then of males did not account for everything. There must be something more. And I was right: that arrangement in series is only a tiny fraction of the reality, which is remarkable in a very different way.

This is what I am going to prove by experiment.

同类推荐
  • The Well of the Saints

    The Well of the Saints

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 韦十一娘传

    韦十一娘传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 三天易髓

    三天易髓

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 明佛法根本碑

    明佛法根本碑

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 三界图

    三界图

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 故将别

    故将别

    一载千秋,无双国士。万里山河,王之权臣。卿本红妆,奈何宿命,终得死里逃生,逆袭而来。赫连川:“我的便是你的,你若想要我这条命,拿去便是。”齐淮:“阿越你记住,只要我还活着,你便永远是这天底下最尊贵的女子,任何人都伤你不得!”
  • 放弃我,抓紧我(上)

    放弃我,抓紧我(上)

    一次意外溺水,长时间脑部缺氧让著名服装设计师厉薇薇失去了部分记忆,她的记忆停留在23岁。记忆中热恋的同为设计师的男友竟成了竞争对手,而一个陌生人却成了她的未婚夫。30岁的厉薇薇决定改变现状,她逐步解开过去的误会,和对手冰释前嫌,不但找回了爱情,也重拾了初心和梦想。
  • 傲气丫环闯江湖

    傲气丫环闯江湖

    “丫头,那是你亲大哥。”“那又如何,我又没见过,杀了便是。”“丫头,在皇宫要收敛一些。”“收敛做什么,难道等着他们来杀我啊!”“丫头,咱们什么时候成亲啊?”“等你把那个说是我大哥的人杀了给我当聘礼的那天。”没有最腹黑,只有更腹黑。此女上得了厅堂,下得了厨房;调戏得了美女,勾引的上帅哥;杀的了大哥,踩得扁皇帝。
  • 乱世猎人(6)

    乱世猎人(6)

    他来自山野林间,他是一个普通的猎人,但却有着一位极具传奇性的父亲!他无意名扬天下,他不爱江山只爱美人,但时势却将他造就成一段武林的神话!他无意争霸天下,但他为了拯救天下苍生于水火,而成为乱世中最可怕的战士!他就是——蔡风!北魏末年,一位自幼与兽为伍的少年,凭着武功与智慧崛起于江湖,他虽无志于天下,却被乱世的激流一次次推向生死的边缘,从而也使他深明乱世的真谛——狩猎与被猎。
  • 灿若烟火不及你

    灿若烟火不及你

    洛菲菲和他相遇在最好的年华,却没有守住最真的感情,她终究是他放不下的刺,但是每个人都有重新遇见的人,无论你想或是不想。
  • 路人男主的自我修养

    路人男主的自我修养

    【前略——这是一本以幻想乡为主题的超自然同人】这是关于某个少年的特别日常——人的一生三分之一的时间都在睡眠中度过,所以少年能够在理所当然地在梦中挥洒他的青春,前提是他青梅竹马的少女能够好好工作的话!“所以赶紧给我去退治妖怪啊你这个懒惰的巫女!”“退治妖怪?我?为什么?又没有钱!”【希望大家支持~已有完本作品,节操保证!】
  • 两生花开时

    两生花开时

    "她是备受欺凌的软妹子小诺,在贵族学校屡遭刁难;她是气场强大的小女王荼荼,是万人敬仰的校董事。初次见面,两个女孩同时充当“大盗”,扰乱夜色校园,却不料落入陷阱,遭人陷害,两人不得不携手共证“清白”。在危机四伏的贵族学院,身份地位相差悬殊,让小诺的学校生活“步步惊心”——被警告、被开除甚至被媒体曝光,幸运的是,她和荼荼的心,在挫折之中渐渐靠近。一波未平一波又起,小诺的家面临支离破碎的局面,而反观荼荼,在她那位光芒万丈的母亲的庇护下,活得自由、潇洒。当小诺发现自己跟荼荼是双生子,当她奢望拥有荼荼的一切时,该如何抉择?那些专属于少女的朦胧心事,那些胆大妄为的年少时光,将以什么样的姿态继续下去?
  • 第一女相:微臣要拒婚

    第一女相:微臣要拒婚

    那些人,害死她的父亲,玷污了她的母亲,屠戮了她的族人,霸占了她的封地……她完颜蓁出生的那一日,想不到竟是家破人亡时!从那一天起,她就注定要走上一条血腥的复仇之路!没有朋友,没有亲人,更没有爱人!他,本是皇朝最最尊贵的太子,却因为一个用心险恶的谶语,被送进寺庙,渐离皇位。在这皇权的争夺倾轧里,他韬光养晦,终有一日,得以飞龙在天。他和她,本是一对和睦君臣,却因为宿命波谲,走到了爱恨两端。他情不自禁爱上了她。她却千方百计要杀他。他想做明君,她却是弄臣!他想要将一个安宁美好的天下,一个万人敬仰的后位,捧来给她,只望博红颜一笑。
  • 舞所不能

    舞所不能

    “请问您认为舞蹈是快乐的吗?”“我认为是的。”“那请问您认为舞者都是快乐的吗?”“不,我认为或许只有成为像我这样的舞者才是快乐的吧……”这里有着各种各样的舞蹈,街舞、古典舞、民族舞、恰恰、鬼步舞、桑巴、华尔兹、极限柔术舞、广场舞、社会摇……总有一款适合你。希望喜欢舞蹈的朋友可以进来看看,尽情感受这项华丽体育运动的魅力。ps:铁打的舞蹈流水的商娱,主线是舞蹈,其余元素都只是支线,一本专注舞蹈的竞技休闲小说。本小说属于架空世界,所有的人物原型都借鉴现实但不是现实,目的是为了塑造每一个有血有肉的人物,请不要代入现实。
  • 萌妻不服叔

    萌妻不服叔

    运城黎家有三女一子。均是人中龙凤,只有小女黎欢生性浪荡,刁钻任性,声名狼藉。运城战家,战神世家,不可一世。战祁衍为人矜贵,将金钱玩转手心。某一天。战大叔找上门来:“嫁给我,我名下的一切都是你的,包括我自己。”黎欢讪笑:“大叔给个理由?”“你……得对我负责。”黎欢:“……”好吧,黎欢嫁了。……黎家大姐轻哼道:“这贱人,一定是嫁给又老又丑的男人。”黎家二姐讥讽道:“这野种,怕是这辈子都翻不了身了。闻言,黎欢昂着头,笑得迷人灿烂。“大叔老公……唔,得拉你出来遛遛咯,否则有人说你又老又丑,还说我翻不了身。”于是乎,婚后,小萌妻成天挽着大叔老公撒狗粮。