It has been noted that practically all of our cultivated 

 plants and domesticated animals are of prehistoric origin. 

 As man progressed in the arts of civilization he drew upon 

 wild nature for contributions. When we reflect, then, how 

 few the domestications have been in historic times, we are 

 obliged to believe that prehistoric man maintained for long 

 ages a high civilization when fine selective skill and patient 

 labor transformed wild life into cultivated fruitfulness and 

 domesticated use. 



These prehistoric people must have had "among them 

 their Darwins and Vilmorins,^ their Cartons and Bur- 

 banks, with the one important difference — that these 

 achieved immeasurably greater practical results than have 

 as yet their modern successors" (Thomson and Geddes, 

 Evolution) 



The region which witnessed such transformations was 

 probably the Mediterranean basin, extending from Portu- 

 gal through Asia Minor and Persia to Korea. Prehistoric 

 cultivation terraces in this district still show how extensive 

 were the plantations in ancient times. 



Chapter 6— REPRODUCTION OF ANIMALS AND 



PLANTS 



(a) — Kinds of Reproduction 



A few words with regards to the modes of reproduction 

 among plants and animals. For convenience we may divide 

 organisms into unicellular and multicellular. In both divis- 

 sions we find two methods of reproduction, viz. : asexual and 

 sexual. Asexual reproduction, i.e., reproduction without 

 special germ cells or fertilization, occurs in several ways. 



(1) By division: bacteria, many algae; protozoa, 



sponges, coelenterates, and some annelids. 



(2) By budding: most plants and lower animals. 



(3) By the formation of spores: most unicellulars and 



many multicellulars. 



(1) — The Vilmorin family has been perhaps the foremost plant breeders 

 in France for over 150 years. Louis (1S16-1860) was the pro- 

 ducer of the improved sugar beet, and the inventor of the cent- 

 gener and line method of breeding. His son Henri succeeded to 

 the bu.siness and made valuable contributions to the study of 

 heredity, and to the breeding of wheat and pototoes. He died in 

 1889 and was succeeded by his son Philippe (1872-1917) who was 

 one of the most noted scientists of France. He wrote valuable 

 works on wheat, sugar beet, ginseng, tobacco, and flower-garden- 

 ing. Maurice, uncle of Philippe, is specially interested in Horti- 

 culture on which he has written several books. 



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