788 LIFE : OUTLINES OF GENERAL BIOLOGY 



feels practically as convinced of the evolutionary origin of plants 

 as does the zoologist for animals. 



The life of plants, rising thro' dim sweet states, 

 Cloisters the great love-secret more and more; 

 Gathers it jealously within the gates 

 Of the hushed heart ; yet mightier than before 

 The mystery prevails and overpowers 

 Stem, leaf and petal. So the passion lies 

 In this tranced flowery being which is ours, 

 Like to a hidden wound, yet softly dyes 

 With dolorous beauty all the stuff of life. 

 Each dream and vision and desire subduing 

 With muted splendour, the great counter-strife 

 Of life with its own rhythmic pangs imbuing — 

 Deny it and disdain it — lo there beat 

 Red stigmata in heart and hands and feet. 



R. A. Taylor {Hours of Fiametta) 



THE MEANING OF LARViE 



No one who looks round in spring, when so many life cycles are 

 beginning, can fail to be impressed by the frequent occurrence of 



Fig. 133. 



Diagram of Free-Swimming Trochosphere Larva of a Sea- Worm. A.SP, 

 apical spot with a few nerve-cells and projecting cilia; PR, pre-oral 

 band of cilia; M, the mouth; G, the food-canal bending round to the 

 anus (A) ; S, post-oral band of cilia. 



larvae, such as tadpoles and caterpillars. But what are larvae, and 

 what is their significance when they occur in a life-history ? 



From the sheep comes a lamb, which no one would dream of 

 calling a larva. Out of the hen's egg there struggles a chick, which 

 no one would dream of calling anything but a young bird. Out of a 

 crocodile's egg, buried deep in the warm sand, there wriggles the 

 very miniature of its parent; and here, again, there can be no talk 



