AND THE LOWEE ANIMALS. 259 



duction by females only, presents several irregu- 

 larities also; it tends to exhaust itself, by the very 

 exercise of its power. The male then steps in, to 

 restore this almost extinct property, and by the 

 fundamental act of fecundation, establishes the neces- 

 sary start-point of the production either of new 

 individuals or of new generations. 



This mode of view is, I believe, justified by all that 

 we know at present concerning the phenomena of 

 geneagenesis. It is evident that, in bees, the inter- 

 vention of the male parent is necessary, at least once 

 for every two generations. Judging from Carlier's 

 experiments, there may be three generations under 

 these conditions in Liparis dispa/r. The range is pro- 

 bably still more extended in Psyche and analogous 

 genera.* But the intervention, at a given period, of 

 the male, as the element requisite for the perpetuation 

 of the species, is evidently one of the great laws of 

 nature. 



We have in some measure a material proof of this, 

 in the external structure of the ova of the most 

 decidedly parthenogenetic species. All of them pre- 

 sent special apertures, intended to permit the en- 

 trance of the fecundating fluid. This is, I believe, 

 unanimously admitted by naturalists. This existence 



# I do not refer to the Coccidce, as I know not how far true par- 

 thenogenesis may take place in them. Nor do I allude to the vast 

 number of species regarded, I think, too hastily as being partheno- 

 genetic, simply because their males are as yet unknown. For the 

 same reason the Lernece were regarded as presenting the pheno- 

 menon in question. It seems to me that naturalists who draw con- 

 clusions so rapidly, would do well to read the sage reflections which 

 terminate Siebold's great work. 



s 2 



