On the Nature of Fertilization and Sex. 187 
are associated with the sex-chromosomes, i.e., those which 
determine the kind of spore produced in plants or the sex of 
the individual in animals. Associated with these are true secondary 
sex characters, the expression of which in the individual is sex- 
limited. 
Considered from a sociological standpoint, many of the 
anomalies of our civilization maybe regarded as due to treating the 
former group as though they were subject to more or less complete 
sex limitation. The desire for personal responsibility and achieve¬ 
ment, the pleasurable excitement of running risks, etc., are 
assumed to be male traits (though the war has, to some extent, 
modified this view) whereas, from the point of view put forward in 
this paper, these should be regarded rather as “ active ” (or 
androplasmic) characteristics common to individuals of both sexes, 
the balance varying with the individual but not necessarily being 
correlated with the sex of the individual. 
The desire for a secure and settled mode of life with which 
a woman is conventionally saddled is no more feminine than 
is the same desire in a man of the temperament that is happiest in 
some secure, routine and subordinate employment with little or no 
responsibility. This is a “ passive ” or gynoplasmic rather than a 
feminine characteristic. 
May not the feminist movement be regarded as an instinctive 
and unconscious attempt to separate these gametic characteristics 
common to the sexes from those showing real sex-limitation ? It is 
to be regretted that the standpoint from which social matters of 
this kind are discussed is generally political or economic rather 
than biological. 
In discussing the hypotheses that have been put forward here, 
and in following out the implications arising therefrom, the author 
has endeavoured, while indicating the width of application, to direct 
attention for the most part to the simpler cases, in which the issue 
is usually more clearly defined. In many instances, too, the 
argument could have been strengthened by the inclusion of 
additional examples to illustrate or extend the point at issue. It 
has been thought preferable however to present a short outline for 
criticism rather than a more elaborate scheme, in order that 
the main hypothesis may not be obscured by the details. 
Throughout the discussion the difficulty has been severely felt 
of dealing clearly with two quite different series of facts for which, 
in current usage, the same set of terms is employed. The 
