1 86 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



conduct of the female animal is' largely (not without 

 deviations and additions) based on that of the larger 

 mating cell or macro-gamete ; she is the one who waits, 

 is sought, is courted, and wooed. And like the egg 

 cells of which she is the vehicle and envelope, she is 

 specially concerned in the provision of nutriment for the 

 early growth of the young. 



Courtship, then, seems to have had its foundations 

 very deeply laid, even in the earliest and simplest forms 

 of life — at the time when the principle of the union of 

 the substance of two strains to produce a new generation 

 was established, and when, further, the active, seeking 

 male cell was differentiated from the immobile nourishing 

 female cell. 



Amongst the polyps, sea-anemones, and jelly-fish, 

 though we frequently find that there are distinct males 

 and females, there is no courtship. This is connected 

 with the fact that, like plants, they are (excepting the 

 jelly-fish) fixed and immobile. The male cannot " court " 

 the female, because neither of them can approach the 

 other. I once saw in the aquarium at Naples a sudden 

 and simultaneous discharge of a white cloud, like dust, 

 into the water from half the magnificent sea-anemones 

 fixed and immobile in three large tanks. The cloud 

 consisted of millions of the small " mating cells," and 

 were thrown off by the males. They were carried far 

 and wide by the stream running through the tanks. 

 In the sea such a discharge would be carried along by 

 currents, and might fertilize egg-bearing sea-anemones of 

 the same species growing a mile or two away. 



It is when we have to do with actively moving 

 animals that " courtship " comes into existence. It has 



