CAUSE OF HEREDITY 313 



act upon communication from the outside is shown in 

 many ways, as in the case of the flat fishes where a pic- 

 ture of the outside color and formation is transmitted 

 from the eye to the skin cells. For instance, the skin cells 

 of the fish will change both the color and shape of the 

 skin to simulate the shape and color of the rocky bottom 

 of the sea on which he is resting. Just as in the case of 

 the social ants, the one and the same germ, cell of the 

 animal can build different kinds and different shaped or- 

 gans, as head, tail, stomach, hair and limbs. All these 

 five structures are entirely different and for a different 

 purpose. The cells must be told in some way what to 

 build and be able to communicate and understand each 

 other very clearly or else they could not possibly work 

 in harmony, and have no one interfering with the other, 

 but each producing just what is required and nothing 

 more. 



The seventeen-year locust lives in the earth seventeen 

 years as a worm ; then he tears down the seventeen year 

 old structure and with the same material he builds a 

 flying machine, a new and entirely different structure, 

 which is known as the cicada. This flying machine or 

 cicada is produced for the one special purpose of finding 

 a mate and thereby perpetuating his kind. This flying 

 machine lives but a month or two. At first he lived the 

 life of a worm and was a worm but, as a worm, he had no 

 offspring and no one could inherit his character. But 

 when we understand life correctly, that all living things 

 that we see are structures produced by an intelligent 

 being for his special purpose, we can clearly see why 

 like does not always produce like and that living struc- 

 tures are produced only when wanted or considered neces- 

 sary by the builders. 



