i 



\ 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



193 



i 



r 



f' 



t 



V 



II 



ime Element;, 

 Gonads. Tki 

 1 of othei^ k 



)}■ Archebioik 

 Fungus- 

 al interchaDje- 



3res. Furtk: 

 ducible at il 



inism. 



i\ described!)! 

 ial Conditions. 



'ission 



ofEffi- 



:n 



Subsef' 

 rations- 



Facts. 

 ,e,-elopnie»t i 



roducts. Tt^ 

 ' Convert* 



ledeasi 

 the 



ilyVen- 





bet 



aiflS 



for 



X 



^ 



to give some account of the various changes that are 

 apt to occur in this aggregation of living units which 

 so soon collects^ in the form of a scum, upon the surface 

 of nearly all infusions of organic matter. 

 ■ The pellicle is composed for the most part of a 

 dense aggregation of Bacteria of various sizes and 

 shapes imbedded in a more or less abundant,, pellucid^ 

 gelatiaous material. Very frequently there are also a 

 variable number of intermixed Vibriones and more or 

 less characteristic 7orula^, The Bacteria in this layer 

 are mostly placed vertically to the surface, so that 

 an examination of the upper surface under the micro- 

 scope generally presents the appearance of a stratum 

 densely studded with small, though tolerably uniform 



On attempting to remove a portion of this 

 pellicle, it is found to constitute a more or less coherent 

 membrane. 



It is now a well-known fact that when two or 

 more Amoebse come into close contact with one an- 

 other, they may fuse so as to constitute a larger 

 individual of the same kind, which afterwards creeps 

 about and seizes food as its component parts had 

 previously done. Such a process must be classed under 



granules. 



the head 



Homo 



;enetic Biocrasis^j for, although 

 separate living units fuse to form a new individual, 

 the process is one of mere fusion, and the product 



^ The different kinds of ' pellicles ' are more fully described by 

 M. Pouchet in his ' Heterogenie,' pp. 355-367. 

 ^ See vol. i. p. 233. 



VOL. II. 



O 



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