[18] I have left out of my inquiry any reference to plants, though all that has been said of the _protozoa_ in the last chapter is equally true of the _protophyta_, the basis of plant life. Among plants there are many beautiful and instructive examples of the relative position of the female and the male plant. A well-known case is that of the hemp-plant, where the sexes are indistinguishable up to the period of fertility, but when the male plants have shed their pollen, and thus fulfilled their duty of fertilising the female plants, they cease to grow, turn yellow and sere, and if at all crowded wither and die. Many other examples might be cited, but the question is too wide to enter on here. See Lester Ward, _op. cit._, pp. 318-322. [19] _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, article on "Sex," by Prof. Geddes; also _Evolution of Sex_, pp. 20, 21. Prof. Lester Ward, _Pure Sociology_, Part II, Chap. XIV, gives an ingenuous and complete view of the early superiority of the female, to which he gives the name of the Gynaecocentric theory, as opposed to the usual Androcentric theory, based on the superiority of the male. While fully appreciating the suggestiveness and value of this theory, and also acknowledging very gratefully the help I have derived from it, it must be stated that some of the facts brought forward in its support by the distinguished American cannot be accepted. Nor am I able, as will appear later, to accept the conclusion he arrives at of the passive character of the female. See also a popular article by Prof. Ward, "Our Better Halves", _The Forum_, Vol. VI., Nov. 1888, pp. 266-275. [20] Van Beneden, _Animal Parasites and Messmates_, p. 55. [21] Milne Edwards, _Lecons sur la physiologie et l'anatomie comparee de l'homme et des animaux_, Vol. IX. p. 267. [22] In addition to the works already mentioned, see Darwin, _Descent of Man_, Vol. I. p. 329; Haeckel, _Evolution of Man_, and _A Manual of the Anatomy of the Invertebrated Animals_, by T. Huxley, pp. 261-262. [23] _Life and Letters of Charles Darwin_, Vol. I. p. 345. [24] Thomson, J.A., _Heredity_, p. 39. [25] Article by Ryder, _Science_, Vol. I., May 31, 1895, p. 603. [26] Schreiner, Olive, _Woman and Labour_, pp. 77-78. [27] These examples of female parasitism have been taken from _Evolution of Sex_, p. 17; see also pp. 19-22. The authors bring them forward with many other examples to prove the main thesis of their book--that the character of the female is anabolic, that of the male katabolic. In establishing this theory they do not appear to give sufficient importance to the fact that this degeneration of the female is only found where the conditions of life are parasitic. [28] _Evolution of Sex_, p. 21; _Pure Sociology_, pp. 316-317. [29] "Notes on the Mosquitoes of the United States," by L.O. Howard, _Bulletin_ No. 25, New Series, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Entomology, 1900, p. 12. Quoted by Lester Ward, _Pure Sociology_, p. 317.