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LECTURE VII. 



It is one of the characteristics of living 

 beings, that they multiply their species ; 

 which they sometimes effect in consequence 

 of subdivisions of their bodies, or by the 

 production of shoots, that afterwards be- 

 come detached. Both these modes are evi- 

 dent in vegetables and polypes. In general, 

 however, the multiplication of the species 

 is effected by the production of seeds and 

 eggs, containing nutriment for the germ of 

 the future vegetable or animal, which, thus 

 supported, grows till it acquires powers of 

 deriving nourishment from other sources. 

 Those animals, which multiply their spe- 

 cies in this manner, are said to be ovipa- 

 rous. Sometimes the ova seem to be 

 hatched within the body of the parent, 

 and, under such circumstances, the animals 

 are said to be ovoviviparous. This mode 

 of multiplication is frequent in the lower 

 kinds of animals, but it is met with also in 



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