Chap. XXVK. OF PANGENESIS. 369 



rudimentary organs are redeveloped, or when an organ which 

 we must believe was possessed by an early progenitor of the 

 species, but of which not even a rudiment is left, suddenly 

 reappears, as with the fifth stamen in some Scroj)hulariace8e. 

 We have already seen that reversion acts in bud-reproduction ; 

 and we know that it occasionally acts during the growth of 

 the same individual animal, especially, but not exclusively, if 

 of crossed parentage, — as in the rare cases described of fowls, 

 pigeons, cattle, and rabbits, which have reverted to the colours 

 of one of their parents or ancestors as they advanced in years. 

 We are led to believe, as formerly explained, that every 

 character which occasionally reappears is present in a latent 

 form in each generation, in nearly the same manner as in 

 male and female animals the secondary characters of the 

 opposite sex lie latent and ready to be evolved when the 

 reproductive organs are injured. This comparison of the 

 secondary sexual characters which lie latent in both sexes, 

 with other latent characters, is the more appropriate from 

 the case recorded of a Hen, which assumed some of the 

 masculine characters, not of her own race, but of an early 

 progenitor; she thus exhibited at the same time the re- 

 development of latent characters of both kinds. In every 

 living creature we may feel assured that a host of long-lost 

 characters lie ready to be evolved under proper conditions. 

 How can we make intelligible and connect with other facts, 

 this wonderful and common capacity of reversion, — this 

 power of calling back to life long-lost characters ? 



Part II. 



I have now enumerated the chief facts which every one 

 would desire to see connected by some intelligible bond. This 

 can be done, if we make the following assumptions, and 

 much may be advanced in favour of the chief one. The 

 secondary assumptions can likewise be supported by various 

 physiological considerations. It is universally admitted that 

 the cells or units of the body increase by self-division or 

 proliferation, retaining the same nature, and that they 

 ultimately become converted into the various tissues and 



