124 SYMBIOGENESIS 



of successful branches, must be considered as inherently prob- 

 able. In the following pages we shall see further evidence to 

 that effect. 



Speaking of animal classification in his work, Essays on 

 Evolution, Prof. E. B. Poulton tells us that the higher sub- 

 grades, the Ccelom-ata (animals with a ccelom or body-cavity 

 surrounding the digestive tract) include nine Phyla, and he 

 emphasises the fact of an immense evolutionary history which 

 must have been passed through before the ancestor of one of 

 the higher of these nine Phyla came into being. (Italics 

 mine.) 



He also states : 



When we have decided the question of the other Ccelomate Phylum 

 or Phyla to which the vertebrate ancestor belonged, there remains, of 

 course, the history of that Phylum or those Phyla earlier than the 

 point at which the vertebrates diverged, right back to the origin of 

 the Ccelomata. 



The evolution of the ancestor of each of the higher Phyla probably 

 occupied a very long period, perhaps as long as that required for the 

 evolution which subsequently occurred within the Phylum. 



Prof. Poulton adds the further reflection: 

 It is, of course, a perfectly trite and obvious conclusion, but none 

 the less one to be wondered at, that the force of heredity should thus 

 far outlast the ebb and flow of terrestrial change throughout the vast 

 period over which the geologist is our guide. 



There is, indeed, plentiful cause for wonderment at this 

 astounding success of a physiological force in outlasting 

 the ages. The force itself, however, seems to be rather 

 inadequately described as the "force of heredity," although it 

 works by " heredity." In view of what has been said already 

 it seems more adequate to speak instead of positive 

 ancestral dynamics (symbiotics) persisting in efficacy and 

 hereditary potency, precisely in so far as they are not abused or 

 wasted by inferior or retrograde recent developments, such as 

 are, broadly speaking, induced by cessation of "work." 



Instead of wondering at the mysteries of "heredity," let 

 us consider for a moment the bio-dynamic implications 



