190 HIDDEN BEAUTIES OF NATURE 



cilia are most energetic, lashing the water in one 

 direction and producing very decided currents, show- 

 ing thereby the work they do when the sphere is free. 

 This vigorous lashing of the cilia so resembles a 

 voluntary act that we unthinkingly find ourselves 

 asking whether the volvox has a will or a mind of its 

 own. One cannot easily comprehend a plant having 

 such decided power, and that power directed in an 

 orderly method and resulting in definite ends. 



The fiftieth part of an inch is not a great space in 

 creation, yet a wonderful plant, wonderfully endowed, 

 and possessed of powers which baffle man's know- 

 ledge, occupies that minute limit. 



A rent appears in the envelope of the full-grown 

 volvox, and the enclosed young volvoces escape. 

 Their cilia lash the water, and away they go, rolling 

 and spinning like so many animated green balls, 

 never appearing to collide with each other. In time 

 they grow to the size of the parent volvox, become 

 filled with tiny volvoces, burst their envelopes, and 

 thus complete the cycle of their life. 



Sunshine and ciliary action may account for a 

 great deal in the life-history of this astounding plant ; 

 but there is beyond these a power which man can 

 neither understand nor define, and that is life. 



