98 WHAT EVOLUTION IS 



impossible, to show how under such 

 circumstances the inheritance of ac- 

 quired characters can take place. In 

 those forms in which non-sexual re- 

 production is found the inheritance 

 of acquired characters must be a reg- 

 ular occurrence, for, in this method 

 of reproduction, the whole body of 

 the organism divides into two or 

 more masses, and the body cells of 

 the parent, with all the peculiarities 

 that the environment may have im- 

 pressed upon them, become the body 

 cells of the offspring. Here the 

 method of reproduction is as clearly 

 in favor of the inheritance of ac- 

 quired traits as in the other instance 

 it is opposed to this process. It must 

 be kept in mind, however, that non- 

 sexual reproduction is a characteris- 

 tic of the plants and the lower 

 animals and is absent from the higher 

 forms. It occurs on the animal side 



