4 THE BIOCOSMOS PRELIMINARY, 



in the speed of specific reproduction. Some 

 have the power of persisting in about the 

 same organism for countless geologic ages, 

 like the well-known Lingula, which is still 

 alive from the Devonian Period. On the oth- 

 er hand there are ancient species which, after 

 much variation, have died out, seemingly hav- 

 ing exhausted their elemental life- stuff . The 

 suggestion rises that there may be construct- 

 ed a gamut which shows the varying ability 

 of each plant and animal to reproduce new 

 species. Still further, it is declared that this 

 power of specific reproduction has its periods 

 of rise, culmination, and decline in the life 

 of each species, vegetal and animal. One is 

 inclined to think that the generation of an- 

 other species is a higher and more exhaust- 

 ing act than the generation of another indi- 

 vidual simply like the parent. Interesting is 

 the fact that every living thing bears in it 

 the tendency to break out the bounds of its 

 birth, and show a limit-transcending quality; 

 it will not be confined to the transmitted 

 forms of its species. To be sure only a few 

 will burst the barriers and move on a new 

 line, though probably all possess somewhat 

 of the same impulse. Those capable of mak- 

 ing the transition from the old species and 

 of reconstructing one of their own may be 

 deemed the geniuses of the animal and vege- 



