196 RELATIONS OF OVA AND GEMMAE. 



to them the term Parthenogenesis, originally employed in a 

 wider sense by Professor Owen. 



Siebold's remarks refer principally to some Lepidopterous 

 insects, (Psyche Helix, Solenobia, &c.) t and they have 

 been confirmed by Leuckart, who has satisfied himself that 

 the parents are true females, with ovaries of the ordinary 

 type, and with the usual adaptations in the appendages for 

 the impregnation of the ova, such as spermathecse, or re- 

 ceptacles for the seminal fluid. The ova also have the 

 normal structure, even in such details as the micropyle, or 

 aperture in the shell for the entrance of spermatozoa.* But 

 it appears to have been positively determined by both these 

 observers that these ova may develop young without im- 

 pregnation. The progeny in such cases was always female. 

 Siebold does not appear to have determined whether these 

 females can themselves propagate without impregnation ; 

 and there are theoretical reasons against the probability of 

 a continuous succession of the race being maintained inde- 

 finitely, without the recurrence of impregnation from time to 

 time. Indeed, the ascertained facts of the adaptation, both 

 of the ova and of the maternal organs for receiving impreg- 

 nation, and of the unfecundated progeny being always 

 female, make it highly probable that in the natural course 

 of things some are impregnated, and that in this case males 

 are developed. 



Such a conjecture is strongly confirmed by the results of 

 Siebold's researches into the details of the reproduction 

 of the Hive Bee, in verification of the views of Dzierzon. 

 In this species the only perfect female and normal producer 

 is the queen, who seems to be impregnated once for all on 

 her marriage flight the contents of the spermatheca 

 sufficing for the fertilization of all subsequent ova, as re- 

 quired. But it would seem that only the ova destined to 



* Microscop. Journal, Jan. 1859. 



