461 



LAWS OF MULTIPLICATION 



concerned in the production and distribution of germs, con 

 stitute the mass of the organism. That small ratio which 

 the race-preserving structures bear to the self-preserving 

 structures in ordinary Phaenogams, is, in these Phrenogams, 

 inverted. A like relation occurs in the common Dodder. 



There may be added a kindred piece of evidence which the 

 Fungi present. Those of them which grow on living plants, 

 repeat the above connection completely ; and those of them 

 which, though not parasitic, nevertheless subsist on organized 

 materials previously elaborated by other plants, substantially 

 repeat it. The spore-producing part is relatively enormous : 

 and the fertility is far greater than that of Cryptogams of like 

 sizes, which have to form for themselves the organic com 

 pounds of which they and their germs consist. 



358. The same lesson is taught us by animal-parasites. 

 Along with the decreased cost of Individuation, they similarly 

 show us an increased expenditure for Genesis ; and they show 

 us this in the most striking manner where the deviation from 

 ordinary conditions of life is the greatest. 



Take, among the Epizoa, such an instance as the Nicot/ice. 

 Belonging to the Entomostraca, both males and females of 

 this species are, in their early days, similar to their allies ; 

 and the males continue so throughout life. Each female, 

 however, presently fixes herself on the skin of an aquatic 

 animal, where she sits and sucks its juices, enlarges rapidly, 

 and undergoes an extreme distortion from the growth of 

 the ovaries. These, bulging out from her sides, become lateral 

 sacs, each of which attains something like three times her 

 size ; and then a further distortion is produced by two vast 

 egg-bags, severally larger than herself, which also are formed 

 and become pendant. So that the germ- producing organs and 

 their contents, eventually acquire a total bulk some eight or 

 ten times that of the rest of the body. Numerous species of 

 this type and habit, repeat this relation between a life of in 

 action with high feeding, and an enormous rate of genesis. 



