724 JOHN BEARD, 



The belief in the actual existence of this influence is so wide- 

 spread, it is advocated by zoological investigators of such high stand- 

 ing, that its detailed consideration may be called for. From the 

 results, to which his studies have led him, and from the consideration 

 of the known facts of other cases, the writer does not for himself 

 regard the question as now any longer worthy of serious discussion. 

 The facts, concerning the twofold gametes of the male, and those of 

 the female, as well as the non-functional nature of a second form of 

 spermatozoon, seem to be decisive against any influence whatever of 

 fertilisation upon sex. 



Were the female organism the one to differentiate one kind of 

 functional gamete only, in the shape of an egg, and were there 

 two categories of functional spermatozoa, the matter 

 would stand in another aspect. Then, but then only, the sex of the 

 "egg", that is to say, of the zygote, might be determined by the union 

 with either the "A" sperm or the "B" sperm. This condition is, 

 however, non-existent in nature as we know it, and it is with existing 

 things and factors we have to deal, not with imaginary ones. 



Many recent writers accept as more or less firmly established 

 what may be termed Dzieezon's view of the determination of sex (in 

 the bee) by fertilisation, for instance. Weismann, Strasburger, and 

 Räuber. In a recent contribution ^j, already referred to on an earlier 

 page. Weismann whites : "Therefore, I do not see how one can escape 

 from the conclusion from the non-fertilisation of the eggs laid in 

 drone-cells, that it is just the absence of fertilisation, which here con- 

 ditions the development to the male sex, and .conversely, that fertili- 

 sation of the egg of the bee at the same time determines the female 

 nature of the embryo. How the connection obtains we do not under- 

 stand, but that there is a connection can no longer be denied." 



The reader is probably aware of the main facts of the partheno- 

 genesis of the bee, as established by Dzierzon and von Siebold. 

 They maintained, that fertilised eggs here gave rise to female young, 

 because they were fertilised, non-fertilised eggs to male forms or 

 drones, because they were not fertilised. At the basis of this supposed 

 determination of sex in the bee by the occurrence or omission of 

 fertilisation is the idea or belief, that the queen-bee can at will fer- 

 tilise an egg, or omit to do this. This belief assumes the existence 



1) Weismann, A., Ueber die Parthenogenese der Bienen, in: x\nat. 

 Anz., V. 18, 1900, p. 499. The above translation is not strictly literal. 



