SPERMATOGENESIS— INSEMINATION 179 



that the sperms may live for three years in the vesiculse seminales 

 of snails. 



The extreme longevity possessed by the male cells of some insects 

 is still more remarkable. Von Siebold ^ states that the spermatozoa 

 of bees may survive for four or five years. Moreover, queen ants 

 have been known to lay fertile ova thirteen years after the last 

 intercourse with a male. 



1 Von Siebold, " Fernere Beobachtungen iiber die Spermatozoen Wirbelloser 

 Tiere," MiUler's Archiv, 18.37. 



