230 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



stage of their development they were almost indis- 

 tinguishable from other Amoebae seen in the same in- 

 fusion, which had resulted immediately from the trans- 

 formation of flagellated Monads., and mediately as 

 products of a process of segmentation occurring in an 

 embryonal area. So that whether we have to do with 

 Fungus-germs or with Amoebae, their forms are occa- 

 sionally so intimately associated with the matter from 

 which they have been derived., that similarity may ulti- 

 mately be met with between organisms whose actual 

 modes of origin have been most diverse. 



These amoeboid corpuscles which grew up in the 

 midst of the pellicle were peculiar in many respects. 

 In their very early stages it was quite impossible to say 

 whether they were going to develop into Fungus-germs 

 or into Amoebae ; ultimately, however, they seemed to 

 lean more towards the latter mode of development, 

 although the activity which they displayed in this phase 

 of their existence was extremely slight. Finally, we find 

 them, after encystment, undergoing a process of seg- 

 mentation, by which they give rise to a colony of brown 

 Fungus-germs, in precisely the same manner as that by 

 which the Protomyxa of Haeckel gives origin to flagel- 

 lated Monads which subsequently assume the characters 

 and mode of locomotion of Amoebae l . This evidence, 



1 Just as Amoebae may arise either by Archebiosis or by segmentation 

 of pre-existing living matter (in embryonal areas), with or without 

 passing through the Monad phase of existence, so may Fungus-spores 

 arise by either of these methods. There is also much evidence to show 

 that Monads may arise directly by a process of Archebiosis. I have 





