104 



THE OCEAN WORLD. 



The lower segment soon begins to show a few vibratile cils, thus indi- 

 cating the place which will soon be a new mouth ; the organ soon 

 becomes more and more distinct, and now the Infusoria literally cuts 

 itself into two parts. We see, at first, the fragment of glutinous 

 substance fluttering on the edge of the plate ; the two halves then 

 separate from each other very quickly, each moiety having finally a 

 perfect resemblance to the primitive animal. This process is repre- 

 sented in Fig. 28, A and B being the adult, c the same in course of 

 separation, D after its completion. Assuredly this is one of the most 

 remarkable phenomena which the study of living beings can present. 

 " By this mode of propagation," says Dujardin, "an infusoria is the 

 half of the one which preceded it, the fourth of the parent of that, 



Fig. 28. Propagation of an Infusorfk by spontaneous division. 



the eighth of its grand-parent, and so on, if we can apply the terms 

 father or mother to animals which must see in its two halves the 

 grandfather himself by a new division again living in his four parts. 

 We might imagine such an infusoria to be an aliquot part of one like 

 it, which had lived years, and even ages before, and which by con- 

 tinued subdivision into pairs might continue to live for ever by its 

 successive development." 



This mode of generation, however, enables us to comprehend the 

 miraculous fecundity of these beings. The process defies calculation, 

 if we wished to be precise. We may, however, arrive at a proximate 

 estimate of the number which may be derived from a single individual 



