5. General Conclusions and Summaries. §7 



positively male. Thus if an infected female crab, for instance, were to develope either swollen 

 chelae or copulatory styles, it would be necessary to give up our view, but it appears most 

 strikingly and emphatically that tbis is never the case. Giard (1) bas recognised tbis fact in 

 Stenorhynchus, wbere be found infected individuai of tbe type described in tbis cbapter as 

 crabs of apparently doubtful sex, i. e. individuals of totally female appearence but possessing 

 copulatory styles; tbese individuals be identified as bigbly modifled males, as I do. But in 

 otber cases he appears to believe that the female sex may assume male characters, as for in- 

 stance in Andrena infected by Stylops wbere he says "Chacun des sexes perd ainsi plus ou 

 moins les attributs qui le caractérisent et tend à acquérir plus ou moins ceux du sexe oppose" 

 (2 p. 15). Tbe effect of the fungus Ustilago on certain kinds of Melandrium, has been also 

 adduced by Giard (6) as an instance of parasitic castration, in wbicb the male characters 

 are called forth in a female plant. This botanical case, however, difFers essentially from ali 

 other cases of parasitic castration, and it is probable that we are dealing with a different 

 order of phenomena. Tbe following particulars are taken from Strasburger (14). The so- 

 called female flower of Melandrium already possesses tbe rudiments of the male organization 

 as small hooks. Tbese books normally do not develope, but when the flower is attacked by 

 Ustilago, tbe latter is particularly concentrated in the hooks which, probably in consequence 

 of the stimulus, proceed to develope into normal anthers. The anthers however never get 

 beyond producing tbe pollen m otber cells, which are then destroyed by the fungus. In con- 

 sequence of the development of the anther rudiments tbe female organization may atrophy 

 to a certain extent. It is clear, I think, that the resemblance of tbis process to the parasitic 

 castration of animals is quite spurious. The development of the rudimentary anthers is due 

 to a locai stimulus given by the Ustilago, and in any case it cannot be compared to a female 

 animai giving rise to male characters, because tbe flower of Melandrium is potentially herma- 

 phrodite already since it possesses the rudiments of anthers. 



From tbe fact that Giard adduces this case and from his general language, I conclude 

 that he holds the view that there is no essential difference in the reaction of male and female 

 animals under parasitic castration, and that the female can assume male characters in the 

 same way that males can assume female characters. 



The common view 1 ) of hermapbroditism as being derived from tbe male or female in- 

 differently, according as tbe bermapbrodite resembles more closely one sex or the other, is 

 proved to be utterly fallacious, since we know that a male crab may assume ali the attributes 

 of the female and only retain a copulatory style in a more or less degenerate state. 



So striking is tbe apparent incapacity of the female crabs to assume a single distinctively 

 male character, that I am tempted to think that the female sex in general really does not possess 

 the male modincation of tbe sexual formative substance in a latent state, whereas the male 

 evidently does possess the female. The question, therefore, naturally arises if this conception 



*) This view is so widely spread in biological literature that I need not give special references. In view 

 of the facts given in this chapter it is seen to be altogether inadequate and uncritical. 



