Therewouldstillremaintheinversepermutation:toobtainonlyfemalesandnomales,orveryfew。Thefirstpermutationmakesthesecondseemveryprobable,althoughIcannotasyetconceiveameansofrealizingit。TheonlyconditionwhichIcanregulateisthedimensionsofthehome。Whentheroomsaresmall,themalesaboundandthefemalestendtodisappear。Withgenerousquarters,theconversewouldnottakeplace。Ishouldobtainfemalesandafterwardsanequalnumberofmales,confinedinsmallcellswhich,incaseofneed,wouldbeboundedbynumerouspartitions。Thefactorofspacedoesnotenterintothequestionhere。Whatartificecanwethenemploytoprovokethissecondpermutation？Sofar,Icanthinkofnothingthatisworthattempting。
Itistimetoconclude。Leadingaretiredlife,inthesolitudeofavillage,havingquiteenoughtodowithpatientlyandobscurelyploughingmyhumblefurrow,Iknowlittleaboutmodernscientificviews。InmyyoungdaysIhadapassionatelongingforbooksandfounditdifficulttoprocurethem;to—day,whenIcouldalmosthavethemifIwanted,Iamceasingtowishforthem。Itiswhatusuallyhappensaslifegoeson。Idonotthereforeknowwhatmayhavebeendoneinthedirectionwhitherthisstudyofthesexeshasledus。IfIamstatingpropositionsthatarereallyneworatleastmorecomprehensivethanthepropositionsalreadyknown,mywordswillperhapssoundheretical。Nomatter:asasimpletranslatoroffacts,Idonothesitatetomakemystatement,beingfullypersuadedthattimewillturnmyheresyintoorthodoxy。Iwillthereforerecapitulatemyconclusions。
Beeslaytheireggsinseriesoffirstfemalesandthenmales,whenthetwosexesareofdifferentsizesanddemandanunequalquantityofnourishment。Whenthetwosexesarealikeinsize,thesamesequencemayoccur,butlessregularly。
Thisdualarrangementdisappearswhentheplacechosenforthenestisnotlargeenoughtocontaintheentirelaying。Wethenseebrokenlayings,beginningwithfemalesandendingwithmales。
Theegg,asitissuesfromtheovary,hasnotyetafixedsex。Thefinalimpressthatproducesthesexisgivenatthemomentoflayingoralittlebefore。