48 ANIMAL LIFE 



are very sensitive, and the polyps bearing them have for 

 special function that of feeling or being sensible of stimuli 

 from without. They are the sense organs or sense indi- 

 viduals of the colony. Finally, there are two other kinds 

 of structures or individuals which produce the special 

 reproductive cells for the perpetuation of the species. 

 These are the modified medusa individuals, and one kind, 

 larger than the other, produces the active sperm cells, 

 while the other produces the inactive egg cells. 



27. Increase in the degree of complexity. In the corals, 

 sea-anemones, and jelly-fishes there is plainly much more 

 of a division of labor among the various parts of an indi- 

 vidual and much more modification of these parts that is, 

 much more structural complexity than among the sponges 

 and Hydra, And these, in their turn, are more complex than 

 are the colonial Protozoa, the Volvocinae. There is a great 

 difference in degree of complexity among the slightly com- 

 plex animals. But the various groups of these animals 

 which we have studied can all be arranged roughly in a 

 series beginning with the least complex among them and 

 ascending to the most complex. And in this series the 

 gradual increase in complexity, and in the always accom- 

 panying division of labor among the different parts, is 

 beautifully shown. 



From an animal composed of many structurally simi- 

 lar cells, each cell capable of performing all the life pro- 

 cesses, we pass to an animal composed of cells of a few 

 different kinds, of slight structural diversity. Each kind 

 of cell devotes itself especially to a certain few life pro- 

 cesses or functions. Next we find an animal in which the 

 cells of one kind are specially aggregated to form a single 

 part of the body which is specially devoted to the perform- 

 ance of a single function. This diversity among the cells 

 increases, this aggregation of similar cells to form special 

 parts or organs increases, and the division of labor or 

 assignment of special functions to special organs becomes 



