g22 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



etc. soon produce large internal gemmae (or so-called 

 eggs), by means of which, instead of by fission, they 

 rapidly multiply their kind. These internal gemmae 

 are, indeed, produced so soon in some cases that, ac- 

 cording to Dr. Gros, 'dans quelques-uns de ces individus 

 nees sans parents, on percevait deja les oeufs de leur 

 future lignee/ The same writer, however, affirms that 

 the great majority of the small Rotifers do not reproduce 

 their kind l . Scarcely more than one out of a hundred 

 is ever seen to contain anything like an c egg' or 

 embryo in its interior, although in these exceptional in- 

 dividuals gemmae, capable of reproducing the individual, 

 do make their appearance in the interior of what seems 

 to be the first rudiments of an ovary. This process of 

 internal gemmation as it occurs in some of the small 

 Rotifers is, indeed, a process only slightly more 

 advanced than that which also takes place, at times, 

 amongst some of the Ciliated Infusoria. In fact, like 

 the latter organisms (from which they are so frequently 

 derived), small Rotifers are generally mere transitory 

 forms, which, under favourable circumstances, have a 

 tendency to undergo still higher transformations. 

 Concerning such complete transformations Dr. Gros 

 says 2 : c Dans de certain circonstances, on voit le 

 contenu de petits Rotatoires equivoques se resoudre 

 dans la carapace en des ovules qui peuvent donner 



1 Dr. Gros, moreover, says that they rarely live more than eight days 

 (loc. cit., pp. 308, 309). 



2 Loc. cit., pp. 430, 451, 309, PI. O, figs. 7 and 8. 



