320 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



that the union of the two cells is a secondary and derivative 

 process, not the fundamental process of Generation. 



In the simpler animals we have seen that no distinction 

 whatever exists between Reproduction and Growth ; and if in 

 the more complex animals Reproduction is not carried on by 

 this process of cell-division or cell-formation, the union of 

 two dissimilar cells being indispensable, so likewise in those 

 animals Growth is carried on by a more complex process. 

 A vertebrate anmial does not reproduce itself by spontaneous 

 fission, like a confei-va or an animalcule ; but neither does a 

 nerve grow by spontaneous fission. 



Unless I am greatly deceived, the foregoing survey of the 

 various forms of Reproduction has shown that there can be 

 no essential distinction between Growth and Gemmiparous 

 Reproduction. This granted, it likewise follows that as 

 Gemmation and Generation are identical, there can be no 

 essential distinction between Growth and Generation, 

 but only formal accessory differences. "Whether cells are 

 aggregated together in filaments, or are set free as indi- 

 viduals, whether the cells develop into tissues, or into indi- 

 viduals, must depend on secondary processes. 



If the reader has followed with assent this somewhat ab- 

 struse discussion and elucidation of the identity of Growth 

 and Reproduction, he will have little difficulty in classing 

 the phenomena of Parthenogenesis under the ordinary laws 

 of Reproduction, and removing the peculiar marvel which 

 has hitherto invested those phenomena. Accepting Repro- 

 duction as a vital property — an ultimate fact — which ap- 

 pears under various forms of Growth, Gemmation, and Gen- 



