338 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



In the simpler animals we have seen that no distinc- 

 tion whatever exists between Reproduction and Growth ; 

 and if in the more complex animals Reproduction is 

 not carried on by this jDrocess of cell-division or cell- 

 formation, the union of two dissimilar cells being 

 indispensable, so likewise in those animals Growth is 

 carried on by a more complex process. A vertebrate 

 animal does not reproduce itself by spontaneous fis- 

 sion, like a conferva or an animalcule ; but neither does 

 a nerve grow by spontaneous fission. 



Unless I am greatly deceived, the foregoing survey 

 of the various forms of Reproduction has shown that 

 there can be no essential distinction between Growth 

 and Gemmiparous Reproduction. This granted, it 

 likewise follows that as Gemmation and Generation 

 are identical, there can be no essential distinction be- 

 tween Growth and Generation, but only formal acces- 

 sory diff'erences. Whether cells are aggregated together 

 in filaments, or are set free as individuals, whether the 

 cells develop into tissues, or into individuals, must 

 depend on secondary processes. 



If the reader has followed with assent this somewhat 

 abstruse discussion and elucidation of the identity of 

 Growth and Reproduction, he will have little difficulty 

 in classing the j^henomena of Parthenogenesis under 

 the ordinary laws of Reproduction, and removing the 

 peculiar marvel which has hitherto invested those 

 phenomena. Accepting Reproduction as a vital pro- 

 perty — an ultimate fact — which appears under various 

 forms of Growth, Gemmation, and Generation, he will 



