174 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



the ova on the stage of the Microscope. The observa- 

 tions were neither sufficiently extensive nor sufficiently 

 removed from opposite interpretations to admit of a 

 very positive statement on the point ; accordingly I 

 contented myself with indicating my belief* that ova 

 and spermatozoa were intermingled in the same stroma, 

 announcing my intention of more attentively investi- 

 gating the point when next at the coast. Meanwhile, 

 I had read the Memoire on the Cerianthus, an animal 

 nearly allied to our Anemones, published by M. Jules 

 Haime,i* in which there is a detailed description, with 

 diagrams, of this yerj disposition of ova and sperma- 

 tozoa in the same " organ ;" so that if it had not been 

 for the positive statement of Kolliker, respecting the 

 separation of the sexes, I should have conceived the 

 point placed beyond dispute. 



At the Scilly Isles and Jersey my investigations were 

 renewed, for a long time with the discouraging and 

 paradoxical result of finding ova and nothing else. It 

 seemed as if Kapp's statement would turn out to be 

 correct, and only females were to be found. But then, 

 whence the spermatozoa seen at Tenby ? \\Tience those 

 described by KoUiker ? That the absence of sperma- 

 tozoa did not, in the simpler organisms, by any means 

 imply the absence of reproduction, but that females 

 were capable of propagating, unaided, I knew well 

 enough.J This did not answer the question raised. The 



* Blachwood s Magazine, Jan. 1857. 



i" Annales des Sciences, 1854. 



J See examples in Part IV., Chap. I. 



