CHAPTER XVII 



PRIMITIVE BELIEFS ABOUT FATHERLESS 

 PROGENY 



IN the preceding chapter I related the curious and 

 exceptional cases of " fatherless reproduction " by 

 means of true egg-cells, those cells of special nature pro- 

 duced in the organs called "ovaries," present in all but 

 the simplest animals and plants. These egg-cells are 

 usually, with elaborate sureness and precise mechanism 

 after liberation from the ovary, fertilised by (that is to 

 say, fused with) the complemental reproductive cells the 

 sperm-filaments produced by other individuals, the males. 

 But we must not forget and, indeed, one should not 

 enter on the consideration of this subject without a know- 

 ledge of the fact that vast numbers of animals and plants 

 reproduce themselves " asexually," as it is termed, namely, 

 by breaking-off or separating buds, branches, or other 

 good solid bits of their structure which, when thus separa- 

 rated, are capable of individual life and growth. Thus 

 plants very largely multiply, using this method in addition 

 to the sexual method of egg-cells and sperm-cells. One 

 may take " cuttings " from plants and rear them, and 

 plants also " cut " or detach such bits themselves, in the 

 form of runners, of dividing bulbs, of bulbules, and such 

 reproductive growths seen on the lily, on the viviparous, 

 alpine grass, and many other plants. Even a bit cut off 

 from the leaf of a plant (for instance, a begonia) will 



