A CONFUSING CASE. 149 



self, are starch-makers. What, then, to make a long 

 story short, is this volvox ? With its plant-like colour, 

 it may be a plant ; with its motion, and the structure 

 of its living specks, it may be a mass of animals. 



I reply, it is a colony of very low plants massed 

 together and living a kind of co-operative existence. 

 If you could trace out the special fashion the volvox 

 possesses of reproducing its kind, you would be able 

 to detect many and close likenesses to the ways of the 

 lowest plants. In its preparation for, and production 

 of, the bodies which are to develop into new globes, 

 the volvox is seen to be a true plant, and to possess 

 its nearest relatives among the great tribe of which 

 the seaweeds and many other familiar forms are 

 characteristic examples. 



The closer knowledge of science often dissipates the 

 mystery surrounding the nature of living things. But 

 even under the light of such knowledge the answer to 

 the question, " Is this thing or that (in lower life) 

 an animal or a plant ? " must appear to ordinary 

 mortals on many occasions, as a confusing case. 



