THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



^ 



<" this 1-; 



exual 



5 liij. 



m 



S howev, 



«'tt, 



Prof. Haecl 

 absolut 



Ctii 



ew; 



^ic kingdoi, 



that 



animi; 



1 out of 



tlie sinipk 

 3m he Mil 



i'hich, 

 d, non-nu* 

 3 the getic 



. ._. The f^' 



.ventyyear^;;; 

 kingdoms^"* 



rove that a p 



.ly sM 



K or ra*'' 

 ;,.£ plant'' ; 



sof 



corr 



an 



d tr^^ P' 



117 



sion again to allude. 



Vrotammba and Frotogenes^ to which we shall have occa- 



The other members of this 

 primitive kingdom being comprised under one or other 



of the following groups : — Flagellata, Labyrinthulea, 

 Diatomea, Phycochromace^, Fungi^ Myxomyeetes, Proto- 

 plasta ^5 Noctilucse^ and Khizopoda. 



• The homogeneous and shapeless masses of plasma 

 constituting the group Monera are supposed by Prof. 



a process 



stand Bacteria^ Torula^ 



4 



Haeckel to have come into being 

 of equivocal or ^spontaneous^ generation^ and these 

 are regarded by him as the primordial living things^. 

 We think^ however — for reasons which will subse- 

 quently appear — that, side by side with these, should 



and other equally primordial 

 forms not alluded to by Prof. Haeckel. We merely 

 mention this conclusion at which we have arrived, 

 but will not enlarge upon it at present- 

 It will be useful for us to see, however, what Prof. 

 Haeckel has to say concerning the members of his group 

 Monera, including as it does the two genera above 

 mentioned, as well as others (such as 'Protomyxa and 

 Vampyrelld) the species of which are no longer naked, 



s 



^ In justification of the removal of these from the Vegetable Kingdom 



Haeckel says : — ' The whole method of nourishment and assimilation of 



the fungi, in connection with many other characters (especially the total 



absence of chlorophyll), remove them so far from the true plants that 



the earlier botanists long since wished to establish for the fungi a special 

 organic kingdom.' 



^ In this group are included all the higher nucleated Amc&h<z. 

 ^ Loc. cit. p. 330. 



