PARTHENOGENESIS AND ITS SEQUEL 297 



that in the future it may become the normal mode, males, 

 i 1 consequence, becoming unnecessary ! Such professions 

 of faith are made only by the ignorant, or by those who 

 trade on human credulity. Parthenogenesis not only 

 does not occur in the human race, but it does not even 

 occur in any member of the great group of vertebrates 

 of which man himself stands at the head, and it never 

 will occur. 



Those near relations of the Bees, the Ants, afford a 

 further insight into this strange method of reproduction. 

 Each community in the case of these insects harbours 

 not one, but many queens. The nuptial flight, like that 

 of the Bees, takes place in mid-air ; but myriads of both 

 sexes participate therein, forming a filmy, ever-shifting 

 cloud, now rising, now falling, in the shimmering sunlight. 

 At no time do they seek to attain the altitude, or the 

 privacy, so strenuously striven for by the Bees. But 

 in the case of the latter there is but one female, and her 

 life is precious. She must seek sanctuary for the con- 

 summation of her marriage in the highest heavens, 

 beyond the risk of instant destruction by insect-eating 

 birds ; for though thousands of suitors accompany her, 

 she rises above them all, save one or two, and hence 

 would form an easy mark. With the Ants there are 

 thousands of queens, and the destruction of a few hun- 

 dreds more or less is rather an advantage to the species 

 than otherwise. On their return to earth the males die : 

 their life's work is accomplished. The females, or as we 

 must call them, the queens, on the other hand, have a 

 long life before them ; far longer than that of the queen 

 bee. But for them the joys of flight are restricted to 

 this one brief revel, for, no sooner have they reached 



