104 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



PARTHENOGENEsrs, as it has been demonstrated by me in 

 Pysche Helix, and Solenobia clathrella and lichenella, in Bombyx 

 Mori and Apis mellifica,, certainly occurs more generally in the 

 insect world, than the few examples hitherto discovered lead us 

 to suppose. This Parthenogenesis undoubtedly occurs in ac- 

 cordance with determinate laws, which have hitherto entirely 

 eluded our observation. In Nature, definite objects are probably 

 attained by Parthenogenesis, which we can only comprehend, 

 when we shall have learnt to know the life and actions of Insects 

 in general more exactly, than is at present the case. What an 

 important signification Parthenogenesis has amongst the Bees, 

 will be seen at once, for without Parthenogenesis the whole 

 complicated oeconomy of the Bees, as prescribed by Nature, 

 could not exist at all. It is therefore now a task for the ento- 

 mologists, to search for further examples of Parthenogenesis in 

 the insect world. There are already indications enough, as to 

 how and where this remarkable mode of propagation is to be 

 sought after amongst Insects. From certain observations which 

 we find scattered in various entomological works, it appears, 

 that here and there Parthenogenesis dwells unsuspected, and 

 that by it the history of the reproduction of many insects is veiled 

 in mysterious obscurity. 



Here belongs, amongst others, the statement of Leon Dufour, 

 that he has never obtained a male of Diplolepis gallae tinctorice^. 



* See Leon Dufour, Recherches anatomiques et physiologiques sur les 

 Orthopteres, les Hymenopteres et les Neuropteres, in Memoires presenters par 

 divers savants a I'Acad. Roy. des Sci. de Vlnstitut de France, torn. vii. 1841, 

 p. 527. Here we find, " C'est un fait fort singulier, mais bien positif, que, 

 sur plus de deux cents individus du Diplolepis gallce tinctorice, nes dans nion 

 laboratoire de galles renfermees en bocaux, je n'ai rencontre que des femelles. 

 Malgre toute mon ardeur a rechercher des males, dont la dissection m'interes- 

 sait au supreme degre, je n'ai jamais pu en rencontrer un seul. Ce qui stiinu- 

 lait encore davantage mon desir extreme d'etudier ce dernier sexe, c'est que 

 les nombreuses femelles soumises a mon scalpel etaient dans un etat avance de 



