The genetic and the operative evidence relating to secondary sexual charactersMorgan, Thomas Hunt
Science
The genetic and the operative evidence relating to secondary sexual characters
Morgan, Thomas Hunt
Genetics; Poultry; Sex (Biology)
In 1899 Oudemans succeeded in finding a method of removing the testes
and ovaries from caterpillars, using a dimorphic species, _Ocneria
dispar_, the gipsy moth. The results were negative; none of the
secondary sexual characters of the male or female moths or the accessory
organs of copulation were in the least affected by the operation. The
castrated male copulated as readily with the female as did the normal
male, while the spayed females also behaved as normal individuals of
that sex behave. Kellogg, in 1904, repeated the same operation in the
silkworm moth on a small scale with the same results. Kopec and
Meisenheimer, in 1909, repeated in a more detailed way Oudemans’s work.
A further important addition was made by Kopec and by Meisenheimer. They
transplanted ovaries into a castrated male and testes into a spayed
female. Neither gonad produced any effect on the characters of the other
sex. It is interesting to note that the testes underwent their normal
development in the body of a spayed female, and even in one with the
ovaries present, and that the ovary also underwent normal development in
the body of the male. In other words, there is no intolerance of the
tissue of one sex to the gonad of the other. This result is all the more
unexpected, because other observations have shown that the color of the
blood, and its chemical properties, is quite different in the male and
female moths of certain species.
In the case of moths, therefore, if these cases be regarded as typical,
the situation from the point of view of sexual selection is much simpler
than in birds in the sense that the secondary sexual characters are
directly the product of the genetic constituents of all the cells, and
not influenced indirectly by the secretions from the testes or the
ovaries. Sexual selection, therefore, if it is an agent in the evolution
of the differences between males and females, has acted on the genetic
complex to produce these effects on either sex without the result being
involved in the condition of the ovary or the testes.
Regen castrated crickets, _Gryllus campestris_, in the larval stages and
found no effects on the adult structures. The castrated males chirped
like normal males and mated with the females. Spayed females were like
normal females; they bored holes in the ground, but laid no eggs in
them, of course, as the ovary had been completely removed.
The only genetic evidence in the group of insects, outside of the
vinegar fly, relating to the secondary sexual inheritance of the
secondary sexual characters is the following important experiments made
by Foot and Strobell:
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