GERM CELLS 6 1 



themselves which had sufficient vitahty to develop into 

 complete forms. But a more economical method is the 

 liberation of special germ cells, in which the qualities of the 

 organism are inherent. This is the primary characteristic 

 of sexual, as opposed to asexual, multiplication. 



It is also conceivable that organisms might have re- 

 mained approximately like one another in constitution, and 

 at all times very nearly the same, and that they might have 

 liberated similar germ cells capable of immediate develop- 

 ment. Such a race would have illustrated the one char- 

 acteristic of sexual reproduction, the liberation of special 

 germ cells ; but it would have been without that other 

 characteristic of sexual reproduction — the amphimixis or 

 fertilisation of dimorphic germ cells, usually produced by 

 different organs in one individual or by distinct male and 

 female individuals. 



Liberation of special germ cells. — One must think of 

 this as an economical improvement on the method of start- 

 ing a new life by asexual overgrowth or by the liberation of 

 buds. Asexual reproduction, as Spencer and Haeckel point 

 out, is a mode of growth in which the bud, or whatever it is, 

 becomes distinct or discontinuous from the parent. The 

 buds of a sponge, of a coral, of a sea-mat, or of many 

 Tunicates, remain attached to the parent. If there be a 

 keen struggle for subsistence, this may be disadvantageous ; 

 but in som.e cases, doubtless, the colonial life which results 

 is a source of strength. In the case of Hydra, however, 

 the buds are set adrift ; the same is true of not a few worms. 

 This liberation of buds takes us nearer the sexual process 

 of liberating special germ cells. But unless the organism 

 is in very favourable nutritive conditions, in which over- 

 growth is natural, the liberation of buds is an expensive way 

 of continuing the life of a species. Not only so, but we 

 can hardly think of budding even as a possibility in very 

 complex organisms, like snails or bitds, in which there is 

 much division of labour. Moreover, the peculiarity of true 

 germ cells is that they do not share in building up the 

 " body," and that they retain an organisation continuous in 

 quality with the original germ cell from which the parent 

 arose ; they are thus not very liable to be tainted by the 

 mishaps which may befall the " body " which bears them. 



