It seems odd, then, to say that it takes place ``without females'' any more than it takes place ``without males.'' If my (somewhat dim) recollection of biology classes is to be trusted, the biologists no longer assign creatures which reproduce by fission - such as the ``polyps'' - to either sex. There are, however, certain amphibians whose females can reproduce without males, a process known, somewhat blasphemously, as parthenogenesis (``virgin-birth''). [CRS]