Note 32 — Chapter II
Reading edition
The instances quoted by Siebold, Parthenogenesis d. Arthropoden, are not quite satisfactory. In Hensen’s case, p. 234, impregnation would have been possible if we can suppose the spermatozoa to be capable of passing into the body cavity through the open end of the uninjured oviduct; and though Oellacher’s instances are more valuable, yet sufficient care seems hardly to have been taken, especially when it is not certain for what length of time spermatozoa may be able to live in the oviduct. For Oellacher’s precautions, vide Zeit. für Wiss. Zool., Bd. xxii., p. 202. A better instance is that of a sow given by Bischoff, Ann. Sci. Nat., series 3, Vol. II., 1844. The unimpregnated eggs were found divided into segments, but the segments did not contain the usual nucleus, and were perhaps nothing else than the parts of an ovum in a state of disruption.