THE TIGRIDIA 155 



That the multitudes of hereditary factors that 

 exist in the germ plasm of so complex an organ- 

 ism as a flowering plant should be grouped in 

 each successive bulb that develops as an offshoot 

 of the original bulb of that plant in precisely the 

 same combination, predetermining the produc- 

 tion of a future plant identical with the original, 

 is a fact that becomes increasingly mysterious 

 the more carefully we consider it. 



In particular, the mystery is great if we have 

 kept in touch with modern ideas as to the segre- 

 gation of the germ plasm and the body plasm of 

 the living organism. There is a current notion, 

 supported by high scientific authority, that the 

 very earliest division of a fertilized egg cell, in 

 the case of an animal or plant, results in the sep- 

 aration of the infinitesimal fleck of protoplasm 

 into two different parts that are fundamentally 

 different, one carrying the body plasm from 

 which the structure of the new individual is to 

 grow, and the other carrying the germ plasm 

 that is to convey the potentialities of future 

 offspring. 



New studies in the biological laboratory have 

 shown that this idea, that the first division of the 

 egg cell results in such a segregation of body 

 plasm and germ plasm, cannot be accepted. 

 Nevertheless, it is obvious that in the case of all 



