94 Process of Reproduction of the 



obtained six perfect ones, which he submitted to the inspection of 

 the Royal Academy of Naples, in May, 1815. 



We here observe, as in the salamander, the bulbous enlarge- 

 ment of the stump, the red vascular structure, the first growth of 

 a transparent appearance, and its gradual transition to a more 

 perfect structure. It is also probable, that had the observations 

 been made more minutely, and more in relation to the process, 

 the resemblance would have been found more exact. 



The specific differences which the case affords are the diminu- 

 tion in diameter of the original part, and the new growth at once 

 of the same size, as also the early organization of the alimen- 

 tary canal, the nerves, and vessels. 



The disappearance of the great ring, or retirement, the organ 

 of copulation, is a fact both curious and interesting, although only 

 in unison with the general economy of nature. 



This general resemblance, which we find in the process in the 

 above-mentioned animals, can, however, with no reason be ex- 

 pected in the polypi, whose nutrition is carried on without any 

 vascular system. This difference of structure and functions 

 would only make the prosecution of this comparison, through this 

 order of animals, more useful and necessary. But whatever may 

 be the difference of the process in the different classes of animals, 

 it is very obvious that the power of reproduction itself, though 

 more common in the lower animals whose structure is most simple, 

 is not dependent on the difference of organization in the various 

 classes, but can only be referred to some law of organization pecu- 

 liar to the species possessing it. This conclusion is most forcibly 

 illustrated in the salamander and lizard, whose power of repro- 

 duction is strictly confined to certain numbers ; and in the tadpole, 

 which loses this power immediately on arriving at its state of full 

 developement. 



Section 4th. General Observations. 

 Although the process of reproduction, as I have described it, 

 affords matter for many important deductions, I shall content my- 





