More Science from an Easy ChairLankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
History
More Science from an Easy Chair
Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
Natural history; Science
On the other hand, examples of artificially induced development of
eggs, not fertilised, are very few. The first known came accidentally
to notice. Female silkworm moths reared in confinement sometimes lay
eggs when kept apart from the male, and these have been found to
hatch, and give rise to caterpillars, which were not reared to
maturity. Other moths bred by collectors behaved in the same way, but
the grubs were reared to maturity, and three successive generations of
"fatherless" moths were obtained. In these cases the hatching of
unfertilised eggs is not known to occur in a state of nature, although
it probably occurs occasionally. It has also been observed--an
important fact when considered with the history of the frog's egg and
the needle--that "brushing" the unfertilised eggs of the silkworm and
other moths, that is to say, gently polishing the little egg-shells
with a soft camel's-hair brush, has the effect of starting
development. Taking two lots of unfertilised eggs adhering to slips of
paper, as laid by the mother moth, it is found that those gently
brushed will hatch, whilst those not brushed will either not hatch at
all, or in very small number. The brushing seems to disturb the
equilibrium of the protoplasmic egg-cell within the egg-shell just
sufficiently to set it going--going on its course of division and
development. The only other case of "artificially-induced
parthenogenesis" at present recorded is that of the common frog, due
to M. Bataillon. There are questions of great interest still to be
made out as the result of his discovery. Can the fatherless brood be
reared to maturity and again made to yield a fatherless generation?
What is the precise structure of the nuclei of the cells which
originate from the nucleus of the egg-cell only, and not from a
nucleus formed by the fusion of that with a sperm-cell nucleus? These
and similar questions are the motive of further careful study now in
progress.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account