The close agreement of this theory with what actually happens is certainly important and suggests that it contains some truth. But it cannot be said to be a satisfactory explanation. It ignores the question of the nature of sex. According to the theory the female character is entirely wanting in the male. But what is sex but the difference between ovum and spermatozoon, between megagamete and microgamete? The theory then asserts that an individual developed from a cell formed by the union of male and female gametes is entirely incapable of producing female gametes again. Every zygote after conjugation or fertilisation may be said to be bisexual or hermaphrodite. How comes it then that the female quality entirely disappears? Whether the gametocytes are distinguishable at an early stage in the segmentation of the ovum, or only at a later stage of development, we know that the gametes ultimately formed have descended by a series of cell-divisions from the fertilised ovum or zygote cell from which development commenced. If segregation takes place at the reduction divisions we might suppose that half the gametes formed are sperms and half are ova, and that in the male the latter do not survive but perish and disappear. But in this case it would be the whole of the chromosomes coming from the original female gamete which would disappear, and the spermatozoon would be incapable of transmitting characters derived from the female parent of the individual in which the spermatozoa were formed. An individual could never inherit character from its paternal grandmother. This, of course, is contrary to the results of ordinary Mendelian experiments, for characters are inherited equally from individuals of either sex, except secondary sexual characters and sex-linked characters which we shall consider later.
Similarly, if we suppose that segregation of ovum and sperm occurs in the female, the sperms must disappear and the ovum would contain no factors derived from the male parent. But the theory supposes that the segregation of male and female does occur in the female, that half the ova are female and half are male. What meaning are we to attach to the words 'male ovum' or even 'male producing ovum'? It is a fundamental principle of Mendelism that the soma does not influence the gametocytes or gametes; we have therefore only to consider the sex of the gametes themselves, derived from a zygote which is formed by the union of two sexes. The quality of maleness consists only in the size, form, and mobility of the sperm in the higher animals and of the microgamete in other cases. In what sense then, can an ovum be male? It may perhaps be said that though it is itself female, it has some property or factor which when united with a sperm causes the zygote to be capable of producing only sperms, and conversely the female ovum has a quality which causes the zygote to produce only ova. But since these qualities segregate in the reduction divisions, how is it that the male quality in the f ovum does not make it a sperm? We are asked to conceive a quality, or the absence of a factor, in an ovum which is incapable of causing that ovum to be a sperm, but which, when segregated in the gametes descended from that ovum, causes them all to be sperms. It is impossible to conceive a single quality or factor which at different times produces directly opposite effects. The Mendelian theory is merely a theory in words, which have an apparent relation to the facts, but which when examined do not correspond to any real conceptions.
However, we have to consider a number of remarkable facts concerning the relation of chromosomes to sex. In the ants, bees, and wasps the unfertilised ovum always develops into a male, the fertilised into a female. The chromosomes of the ovum undergo reduction in the usual way, and are only half the number of those present in the nucleus before reduction. We may call this reduced number N and the full number 2N. The ova developing by parthenogenesis and giving rise to males segment in the usual way, and all the cells both of soma and gametocytes contain only N chromosomes. In the maturation divisions reduction does not occur, N chromosomes passing to one gamete, none to the other, and the latter perishes so that the sperms all contain N chromosomes. When fertilisation occurs the zygote therefore contains 2N chromosomes and becomes female. Here then we have no segregation of Fxf in the ova. The difference of sex merely corresponds to duplex and simplex conditions of nucleus, but it is curious that the simplex condition in the gametes occurs in both ova and sperms.
In Daphnia and Rotifers the facts are different. Parthenogenesis occurs when food supply is plentiful and temperature high. In this case reduction of the chromosomes does not occur at all, the eggs develop with 2N chromosomes and all develop into females. Under unfavourable conditions reduction or meiosis occurs, and two kinds of eggs larger and smaller are formed, both with N chromosomes. The larger only develops when fertilised and give rise to females with 2N chromosomes. The smaller eggs develop without fertilisation, by parthenogenesis, and become males. Here then we have three kinds of gametes, large eggs, small eggs, and sperms, each with the same number of chromosomes. It is not the mere number then which makes the difference, but we find a segregation in the ova into what may for convenience be called female ova and male ova.
In Aphidae or plant lice a third condition is found. Here again parthenogenesis continues for generation after generation so long as conditions are favourable, i.e. in summer, and the eggs are in the same condition as in Daphnia, etc., that is to say, reduction does not occur, and the number of chromosomes is 2_N_. Under unfavourable conditions males are developed as well as females by parthenogenesis, but the males arise from eggs which undergo partial reduction of chromosomes, only one or two being separated instead of half the whole number. The number then in an egg which develops into a male is 2_N_-1, while other eggs undergo complete reduction and then have N chromosomes. The latter, however, do not develop until they have been fertilised. In the males, when mature, reduction takes place in the gametes, so that two kinds of sperms are formed, those with N chromosomes and those with N-l chromosomes. The latter degenerate and die, the former fertilise the ova, and the fertilised ova develop only into females. The chief difference in this case then is that the reduction in the male to the N or simplex condition takes place in two stages, one in the parthenogenetic ovum, one in the gametes of the mature male. In Hymenoptera and in Daphnia, etc., the whole reduction takes place in the parthenogenetic ovum, and in the mature male, though reduction divisions occur, no separation of chromosomes takes place: at the first division one cell is formed with N chromosomes and one with none, and the latter perishes.
In many insects and other Arthropods which are not parthenogenetic the male has been found to possess fewer chromosomes than the female. The female forms, as in the above cases of parthenogenesis, only gametes of one kind each with N chromosomes, but the male forms gametes of two sorts, one with N chromosomes, the other with N-l or N-2 chromosomes. On fertilisation two kinds of zygotes are formed, female-producing eggs with 2_N_ chromosomes, and male-producing eggs with 2_N_-1 or 2_N_-2 chromosomes. There is also evidence that in some cases, e.g. the sea-urchin, the female is heterozygous, forming gametes, some with N and some with N+ chromosomes, while the male gametes are all N. Fertilisation then produces male-producing eggs with 2_N_ chromosomes, female-producing with 2_N_+.
Such is the summary given by Castle in 1912. [Footnote: Heredity and Eugenics, by Castle and Others. University of Chicago Press, 1912.] It will be seen that he treats the differences as purely quantitative, mere differences in the number of the chromosomes. Professor E. B. Wilson, however, who had contributed largely by his own researches to our knowledge of sex from the cytological point of view, had already published, in 1910, [Footnote: 'The Determination of Sex,' Science Progress, April 1910.] a very instructive résumé of the facts observed up to that time. The important fact which is generally true for insects, according to Wilson, is that there is a special chromosome or chromosomes which can be distinguished from the others, and which is or are related to sex differentiation. This chromosome, to speak of it for convenience in the singular, has been variously named by different investigators. Wilson called it the 'X chromosome,' McCluny the 'accessory chromosome,' Montgomery the 'hetero-chromosome,' while the names 'heterotropic chromosome' and idiochromosome have also been used. For the purpose of the present discussion we may conveniently name it the sex-chromosome. It is often distinguished by its larger size and different shape. Wilson describes the following different cases:—
(1) The sex-chromosome in the male gametocytes is single and fails to divide with the others, but passes undivided to one pole. This may occur in the first reduction division (Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera) or in the second (many Hemiptera). But it is difficult to understand what is meant by 'fails to divide.' In one of the reduction divisions all the chromosomes divide as in ordinary or homotypic nucleus division, but in the other the chromosomes simply separate into two equal groups without division. If there are an odd number of chromosomes, 2_N_-1, in all the gametocytes of the male, as stated in most accounts of the subject, then if one chromosome fails to divide in the homotypic division, we shall have 2_N_-2 in one spermatocyte and 2_N_-1 in the other. Then when the heterotypic division takes place and the number of chromosomes is halved, we shall have two spermatocytes with N-1 chromosomes from one of the first spermatocytes and one with N and one with N-1 from the other. Thus there will be three spermatozoa with N-1 chromosomes and one with N chromosomes, whereas we are supposed to find equal numbers with N and N-1 chromosomes. It is evident that what Dr. Wilson means is that the sex-chromosome is unpaired, and that although it divides like the others in the homotypic division, in the heterotypic division it has no mate and so passes with half the number of chromosomes to one pole of the division spindle, while the other group of chromosomes has no sex-chromosome. Examples of this are the genera Pyrrhocoris and Protenor (Hemiptera) Brachystola and many other Acrididae, Anasa, Euthoetha, Narnia, Anax. In a second class of cases the sex-chromosome is double, consisting of two components which pass together to one pole. Examples of this are Syromaster, Phylloxera, Agalena. In a third class the sex-chromosome is accompanied by a fellow which is usually smaller, and the two separate at the differential division. The sizes of the two differ in different degrees, from cases as in many Coleoptera and Diptera in which the smaller chromosome is very minute, to those (Benacus, Mineus) in which it is almost as large as its fellow, and others (Nezara, Oncopeltus) in which the two are equal in size. Again, there are cases in which one sex-chromosome, say X, is double, triple, or even quadruple, while the other, say Y, is single. In all these cases there are two X chromosomes in the oocytes (and somatic cells) of the female, and after reduction the female gametes or unfertilised ova are all alike, having a single X chromosome or group. On fertilisation half the zygotes have XX and half XY, whether Y is absence of a sex-chromosome, or one of the other Y forms above mentioned. The sex is thus determined by the male gamete, the X chromosome united with that of the female gamete producing female individuals, while the Y united with X produces male individuals.
Professor T. H. Morgan has made numerous observations and experiments on a single culture of the fruit-fly, Drosophila ampelophila, bred in bottles in the laboratory for five or six years. He has not only studied the chromosomes in the gametes of this fly, and made Mendelian crosses with it, but has obtained numerous mutations, so that his work is a very important contribution to the mutation doctrine. Drosophila in the hands of Professor Morgan and his students and colleagues has thus become as classical a type as Oenothera in those of the botanical mutationists. Different branches of Morgan's work are discussed elsewhere in this volume, but here we are concerned only with its bearing on the question of the determination of sex. He describes [Footnote: A Critique of the Theory of Evolution. Princeton University Press and Oxford University Press, 1916.] the chromosomes of Drosophila as consisting in the diploid condition of four pairs, that is to say, pairs which separate in the reduction division so that the gamete contains four single chromosomes, one of each pair. In two of these pairs the chromosomes are elongated and shaped like boomerangs, in the third they are small, round granules, and the fourth pair are the sex-chromosomes: in the female these last are straight rods, in the male one is straight as in the female, the other is bent. The straight ones are called the X chromosomes, the bent one the Y chromosome. The fertilisations are thus XX which develops into a female fly, and XY which develops into a male. Drosophila therefore is an example of one of the cases described by Wilson.
Dr. Wilson (loc. cit.) discusses the question of how we are to interpret these facts, in particular, the fact that the X chromosome in fertilisation gives rise to females. He remarks that the X chromosome must be a male-determining factor since in many cases it is the only sex-chromosome in the males, yet its introduction into the egg establishes the female condition. This is the same difficulty which I pointed out above in connection with the Mendelian theory that the female was heterozygous and the male homozygous for sex. Dr. Wilson points out that in the bee, where fertilised eggs develop into females and unfertilised into males, we should have to assume that the X chromosome in the female gamete is a female determiner which meets a recessive male determiner in the X chromosomes of the sperm. When reduction occurs, the X[female] must be eliminated since the reduced egg develops always into a male. But on fertilisation, since the fertilised egg develops into a female, a dominant X[female] must come from the sperm, so that our first assumption contradicts itself.