Permutations of Sex 



replacing of a riper egg by another in an 

 earlier stage of development. 



Therefore, in each ovarian tube, in each 

 glove-finger, the emergence of the eggs oc- 

 curs according to the order governing their 

 arrangement in the common sheath; and any 

 other sequence is absolutely impossible. 

 Moreover, at the nesting-period, the six 

 ovarian sheaths, one by one and each in its 

 turn, have at their base an egg which in a 

 very short time swells enormously. Some 

 hours or even a day before the laying, that 

 egg by itself represents or even exceeds in bulk 

 the whole of the ovigenous apparatus. This 

 is the egg which is on the point of being laid. 

 It is about to descend into the oviduct, in its 

 proper order, at Its proper time; and the 

 mother has no power to make another take Its 

 place. It is this egg, necessarily this egg and 

 no other, that will presently be laid upon 

 the provisions, whether these be a mess of 

 honey or a live prey; it alone Is ripe, It alone 

 Is at the entrance to the oviduct; none of 

 the others, since they are farther back In 

 the row and not at the right stage of develop- 

 ment, can be substituted at this crisis. Its 

 birth is inevitable. 



157 



