ALG-E. 163 



phases, which resemble very closely true substantial 

 species which have arrived at their full development ; 

 but we are not therefore to suppose that in passing 

 through their phases the production has really con- 

 sisted of such a number of real species. In the 

 Agardhian sense this may be true enough, for when 

 he pronounces the vessels and cells of flowering 

 plants to be algse his meaning appears to be, how- 

 ever strongly he expresses himself, merely that they 

 are representatives of algae, and resemble them in 

 structure." 



Finally, the real difficulty of the case does not 

 depend on the question as to the difference of animal 

 and vegetable life. These evidently, in certain parts 

 of the creation, are so intimately combined, that it is 

 quite impossible to say where the one ceases and the 

 other begins ; and there is really no reason why we 

 should be incredulous as to the possibility of the same 

 object appearing at one time endowed more especially 

 with animal, and at another with vegetable life. Late 

 observations on the reproductive bodies of some algaa 

 show that their motion is produced by vibratile 

 cilia, exactly in the same way as in certain animals. 

 But it is exceedingly difficult to imagine the trans- 

 formation of one real species into another. The 

 same species may assume a vast variety of forms, 

 according to varying circumstances, and it is highly 

 instructive to observe these changes ; but, that the 

 same spore should under different circumstances be 

 capable of producing beings of an almost entirely 

 different nature, each capable of reproducing its 

 species, is a matter which ought not to be admitted 



