298 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



bed of lilies like its own fair self, before oivino- birth 

 to the butterfly ; and this butterfly must separate itself 

 into a crowd of butterflies before giving birth to the 

 lily : when you have thus added marvel upon marvel, 

 you will be ready to listen without scepticism to the 

 phenomenon known as the " alternation of generations/' 

 since Steenstrup so baptised it. Others have given it 

 other names : Owen calls it " Parthenogenesis ;" Van 

 Beneden, " Digenesis ;" and Quatrefages, " Geneage- 

 nesis/' But while differing about the name, and the 

 explanation of the phenomena, there is no difference as 

 to the phenomena themselves. I will ask the reader's 

 attention to a succinct exposition of the various facts 

 and theories connected with this interesting subject ; 

 premising that I have not only verified the capital ob- 

 servations on which the marvel rests, but have some 

 new facts to bring forward which must materially 

 modify the current conceptions. 



Harvey's celebrated aphorism, Omne vivwn ex ovo 

 (every living being issues fi'om an egg), was a prema- 

 ture generalisation, and has for some years past been 

 known to be so. Many animals issue not from an 

 egg, but directly from the substance of the parent's 

 body, by a process analogous to that of the budding of 

 plants. To include this process and the ordinary pro- 

 cess under one expression, Auguste Comte suggested 

 the following modification of the aphorism, Omne vi- 

 vum ex vivo (every living being issues from a living 

 being) ; and as the idea of spontaneous generation be- 

 comes every year less and less tenable, this aphorism 



