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 



