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* K 



