58 REPRODUCTION AND LIFE HISTORY. 



eggs which, when fertilised, grow into embryos. Within the 

 latter, certain cells (which might be called spores) grow 

 into numerous other larvae of a different form. Within these 

 the same process is repeated, and finally the larvae thus 

 produced grow (in certain conditions) into sexual flukes 

 (Fig. 86, p. 177). In this case, reproduction by special cells 

 like undifferentiated precocious ova, alternates with reproduc- 

 tion by ordinary fertilised egg-cells. So, too, the vegetative 

 sexless " fern-plant " gives rise to special spore cells, which 

 develop into an inconspicuous bisexual " prothallus," from 

 the fertilised egg-cell of which a " fern-plant " springs. 



Various kinds of alternation are seen in the life-cycle of 

 the fresh-water sponge, in the stages of the jelly-fish Aurelia, 

 in the history of some " worms ' ; and Tunicates. They 

 illustrate a rhythm between asexual and sexual multiplica- 

 tion, between parthenogenetic and normal sexual reproduc- 

 tion, between vegetative and animal life, between a relatively 

 "anabolic" and a relatively "katabolic" preponderance. 



II. EMBRYOLOGY. 



Egg cell or ovum. Apart from cases of asexual repro- 

 duction and parthenogenesis, every multicellular animal 

 begins life as an egg cell with which a male cell or sperma- 

 tozoon has entered into intimate union. 



The most important characteristic of the reproductive 

 cells, whether male or female, is that they retain the essen- 

 tial qualities of the fertilised ovum from which the parent 

 animal was developed. 



The ovum has the usual characters of a cell ; its sub- 

 stance is traversed by a fine protoplasmic network ; its 

 nucleus or germinal vesicle contains the usual chromatin 

 elements ; it has often a store reserve of material or yolk, 

 and a distinct sheath representing a cell wall (Fig. 27). 



In Sponges the ova are well-nourished cells in the middle 

 stratum of the body ; in Coelentera they seem to arise in 

 connection with either outer or inner layer (ectoderm or 

 endoderm) ; in all other animals they arise in connection 

 with the middle layer or mesoderm, usually on an area of 

 the epithelium lining the body cavity. In lower animals 

 they often arise somewhat diffusely ; in higher animals their 



