258 METAMOEPHOSES OF MAN 



nature of the function which I attribute to it in this 

 series of phenomena, we must retrace our steps. 



We saw that the unfecundated ova of Hermella and 

 Teredo, when left to themselves, showed their special 

 vitality by a series of movements which recalled those 

 of the fecundated ova ; but we also saw that these 

 movements were soon accelerated,* became irregular, 

 and brought about the destruction of the ova in which 

 they presented themselves. f Now if, by artificial fecun- 

 dation, we caused the male element to come in contact 

 with these ova before the work of destruction was 

 complete, the movements would slacken and become 

 more regular, and a certain number of these ova, 

 which were in process of disintegration, would give 

 rise to as perfect larvae as though fecundation had 

 taken place in the commencement. J Here it is 

 evident that the result of the intervention of the 

 male would be the re-animation and regulation of the 

 egg's vitality, which had begun to exhaust itself in 

 a series of inordinate actions. 



Hence it seems to me that the intervention of the 

 male element, in the case of parthenogenetic phe- 

 nomena, exerts a very similar influence. The repro- 



* This acceleration is so well marked in Hermella's ova, that the 

 changes of form can be almost as easily watched as those presented 

 in the movements of an amoeba. 



t This destruction of the principle is certainly not due to either 

 physical or chemical forces. Putrefaction comes on at a relatively 

 much later period. 



J In my memoir on the embryogeny of Hermella, I described at 

 some length an experiment which I made on this subject, and 

 which leaves no room for doubt. — Annates des Sciences naturelles, 

 1848. 



