On Parthenogenesis, 403 



m 



Nordmann in Smermthts pojytdi These instances are mentioned 

 Burmeister's Manual, p. 312; and Siebold* has attempted to explain 

 them away, but in the present state of our knowledge the assertions are 

 more 'probable than the explanation. 



^ "Moreover, Siebold himself has observed parthenogenesis in Solenobia 

 Ikhenella and S. dat7irella,\ in Fsyche helix and in Apis.l 



^"Lacordaire§ mentions the same fact as having occurred n\ Lipai-is 

 dispar for three successive generations. 



*'Mr. J. P. Brown|| has observed parthenogenesis in Sphinx populi and 

 in Arctia caja^ and states that M. Wagner has observed the same in S. 



ocella ta, 



"M. H. Lehocq^ has met with a similar instance in Arctia coja ; Dr. 

 Kipp in Sphinx populi^'^'^ quoted by Siebold; Mr. Johnston in Smerin- 

 thus ocellalus ;\f Mr. Curtis in Bombyx pohjphevuts ;^ and in Bomhyz 

 ntori various naturalists have convinced themselves of the same facts, 



"Mr. Westwood has favored me with the following extract from his 

 unpublished notes : — *Mr. Davis (the publisher of the Entomological Mag- 

 azine, and himself a good entomologist) informs me of a singular circum- 

 stance connected with the Egger moth, wliich has been observed by Mr. 

 Tardy the Irish entomologist, after whom Mesites Tardii has been named, 

 this gentleman liaving reared three generations of this moth from a sin- 

 gle impregnation.' 



" The Rev. P, H. Newnham of Guildford, the Rev. Hugh A. Stowell and 

 Mr. E. W. Robinson have kindly informed me by letter that they have 

 observed the same fact respectively in Smerinihus populi^ Arctia villlca^ 

 and Arctia coja, 



^^ In Psyche helix and. Solenobia parthenogenesis appears to be the 

 nile, while in the other Lepidoptera it occurs as an exception; tating 

 then these nineteen exceptional cases, it will be observed that they have 

 all occurred in the hawkraoths or moths, and not one in the butterflies; 

 four in Smerinthus populi and two in ^S". ocellatus, and three in Arctia 

 coja; that, taking the genera, five are in Smerinthus^ four in Arctia and 

 Gastrophaga^ and two in Bombyx. No doubt the silkworm moth [B. 

 ^ori) has been so much and so carefully observed, that if parthenogenesis 

 did occur even rarely in that species, it would certainly have been noticed 

 ty many observers ; but I can suggest no explanation of the very unequal 

 distribution of the other cases, except that agamogenesis does occur more 

 frequently in some genera and species than in others, and a fortiori, that 

 it takes place in some. 



But if Professor Siebold and M. Dzierzon are correct, the Hive-Bee 

 {Apis meUiJica) presents us with the most wonderful instance of parthe- 

 nogenesis as yet known among the Articulata, since in this instance the 

 inales always arise from unimpregnated eggs; and those eggs, which, if 



* Wahre Parthenogenesis bei Schmctterlhige, <£c. 



f Bemerfc. liber P^^ychiden : Jahresbericlit cler ScHlesischen Cesellscfeaft. 

 1850; translated also in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 

 If. S. vol vi. 



Wahre Parthenogenesis, Ac § Introd. to Ent^ rol u, p. 383. 



., MaiT. of Nat. Hist viii, p. 557. ^ Comptes Rendus, Dec 8. 185u 



** Bienenzeitung, 1853, p. n52. if Zoologist, 1848, p. 226&- 



tt Ann. de^ Sc. NaL 1851. d. 297, 



Ac 



