THE OVARIAN EGG. 273 



But the modes of reproduction are so varied, 

 the changes some animals undergo during their 

 growth so extraordinary, the phenomena accom- 

 panying these changes so startling, that, in the 

 pursuit of the subject, a new and independent 

 science that of Embryology has grown up, 

 of the utmost importance in the present state of 

 our knowledge. 



The prevalent ideas respecting the reproduction 

 of animals are^made up from the daily observation 

 of those immediately about us, in the barn-yard 

 and on the farm. But the phenomena here are 

 comparatively simple and easily traced. The mo- 

 ment, however, we extend our observations beyond 

 our cattle and fowls, and enter upon a wider field 

 of investigation, we are met by the most startling 

 facts. Not the least baffling of these are the dis- 

 proportionate numbers of males and females in 

 certain kinds of animals, their unequal develop- 

 ment, as well as the extraordinary difference be- 

 tween the sexes among certain species, so that 

 they seem as distinct from each other as if they 

 belonged to separate groups of the Animal King- 

 dom. We have close at hand one of the most 

 striking instances of disproportionate numbers in 

 the household of the Bee, with its one fertile fe- 

 male charged with the perpetuation of the whole 

 community, while her innumerable sterile sister- 

 hood, amid a few hundred drones, contribute to 



12* H 



