334 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



convert indisputable Gremmation into indisj^utable Gen- 

 eration — unless we obstinately refuse to consider any 

 reproductive process as a true generative act that is 

 not preceded by the union of sperm-cell and germ- 

 cell — a refusal which would lead to the denial of Gen- 

 eration altogether in vast regions of the vegetable and 

 animal kingdom. 



Having established this point, let us ascend a step, 

 and we reach the second form of Reproduction, which 

 is the unio7i of two similar cells. This is named by 

 botanists the act of " conjugation." In a simple fila- 

 ment, consisting of cells produced by fission, any two 

 cells may unite ; their contents coalesce to form a new 

 starting-point, from which the multiplication of cells 

 may proceed. Instead of two cells in the same fila- 

 ment, two cells of contiguous filaments may coalesce, 

 but in each case it is the union of two similar ceUs. 

 This is the first dim indication we obtain of that union 

 of different sexes which in hio^her oro^anisms becomes 

 the normal process. 



From the fission of one cell into two similar cells, 

 and the conjugation of two similar cells, we now pass 

 to the third and final mode of Reproduction, namely, 

 the union of tvjo dissimilar cells. To this union the 

 special name of Generation has been apphed ; but the 

 difi'erence of name must not be allowed to mask the 

 identity of the process. It is a fact, that for the pro- 

 duction of the more complex organisms, union of germ- 

 cells and sperm-cells is indispensable. Speculative 

 physiologists have likened this union of germ-cell with 



