OA 



the influence of the male, is that which undergoes division 

 and exentual development int> independ.-nt |, u t there 



are sonic plants, such as tlic /'/<>//,/,./, in which tliis i 

 the case. In these, the pn.t..|.la>mir body of tip 

 which unites with the spcrmaio/. .old-, d<>rs n..t 

 division itself, hut transmits some influence to a 

 in virtue of which they become subdivided into iudepen 

 germs or spores. 



There is still much obscurity respecting the rcprodu 

 processes of the Infusoria ; but, in the Vorticellidte, it v 

 appear that conjugation merely determines a condin 

 whole organism, which gives rise to the division of the < -r 

 plast or so-called nucleus, by which germs are thrown ofT; 

 and, if this be the case, the process would have some analogy 

 to what takes place in the Florideoe. 



On the other hand, the process of conjugation by which 

 two distinct Dlporpos combine into that extraordinary double 

 organism, the J)iplozooti paradoxum, does not directly give 

 rise to germs, but determines the development of the sexual 

 organs in each of the conjugated individuals ; and the same 

 process takes place in a large number of tin- / 

 what are supposed to be male sexual elements in them are 

 really such. 



The process of impregnation in the FloridecB is remark- 

 ably interesting, from its bearing upon the changes whi -h 

 fecundation is known to produce upon parts of the parental 

 organism other than the ovum, even in the highest animals 

 and plants. 



The nature of the influence exerted by the male clement 

 upon the female is wholly unknown. No morphological dis- 

 tinction can be drawn between those cells which are capable 

 of reproducing the whole organism without impregnation 

 and those which need it, as is obvious from what happens in 

 insects, where eggs which ordinarily require impre 

 exceptionally, as in many moths, or regularly, a^ in 

 of the drones among bees, develop without imj>r< 

 Even in the higher animals, such as the fowl, the earlier 

 stages of division of the germ may take place without im- 

 pregnation. 



In fact, generation may be regarded as a particular case 

 of cell-multiplication, and impregnation simply a< one of the 

 many conditions which may determine or ahVct that process, 

 In the lowest organisms the simple protoplasmic ma *s divides, 

 and each part retains all the physiological properties of the 



