130 METAMORPHOSES OE MAN 



morning till night, noting its every action and gesture, 

 anxiously following its slightest movement, trembling 

 almost at the changes which seemed to result from 

 excessive health, shuddering at the notion of an 

 attack which might prove fatal ; but all these anxieties 

 were quickly forgotten when he saw the little being 

 four times change its skin, and attain its normal 

 specific characters. Bonnet was enabled to prove that 

 a complete removal from all other members of its 

 species did not affect its fecundity. On the eleventh 

 day his virgin aphis — for so he thought fit to term it 

 — gave birth to a young one, which was perfectly 

 healthy; and a second soon followed the first. The 

 same occurred during the succeeding days. Every 

 twenty-four hours the family was increased by an 

 addition of from three or four to ten new members. 

 At the end. of twenty-one days the mother, whose 

 virginity was unquestionable, had given birth to 

 ninety -five new beings . 



This experiment, which was first made upon the 

 aphis of the spindle-tree, and was repeated afterwards 

 on a great many species by different observers, was 

 decisive. The lueina sine co'itii of the ancients was 

 proved incontestably in the plant-bugs; but these 

 insects reserved for Bonnet a discovery which was 

 quite unexpected. 



Stimulated by some remarks of a rival, of whom we 

 shall soon have more to say, Bonnet commenced a 

 new series of experiments to ascertain how far the 



X 



reproductive powers of the mother would extend to 

 the offspring and grand-offspring. The aphis of the 

 elder-tree was isolated immediately after its birth, 

 and, as in the case of the former one, produced a 



