The issue of diploid drones was first studied fifty years ago: Queens bred for two or three generations by brother-sister matings laid fertilized eggs in worker cells, from which larvae hatched, but only 50% of them survived in the hive. A new mechanism of sex determination in the honeybee is suggested on the basis of these results: a series of alleles exists at locus X; heterozygotes result in females, but azygotes and homozygotes in males. It is therefore proposed that locus X be called the sex-determining locus, and the alleles at this locus, sex alleles. DRONE LARVAE FROM FERTILIZED EGGS OF THE HONEYBEE Jerzy WOYKE Journal of Apicultural Research 2: 19-24. Received for publication 4th February 1963 *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm