Figure 9.3 The cost of meiosis. If two hypothetical female organisms can only produce four eggs, (a) the female that uses asexual reproduction contributes eight copies of her genes. (b) In contrast, the female that uses sexual reproduction only contributes four copies of her genes. (c) A hermaphrodite can pass on eight copies of its genes by producing four eggs that are fertilized by another individual’s sperm and four copies of its genes when it uses its sperm to fertilize another individual’s eggs.