448 



THE BEGINNINGS OF II FE 



r 



Although I have never seen the final stages of this 

 transformation, I had, even before becoming aware of 

 Dr. Gros' views, noticed the curious fact that very 

 small specimens of Closteria were never to be seen 

 Wherever they are encountered one may see specimens 

 of different sizes and of different patterns, though — with 

 the exception of those which, from their want of sym- 

 metry, are obviously the products of a recent fission 

 they are all large and more or less full-grown. So that 

 just as in the case of the large Diatoms already alluded 

 to, their origin by metamorphosis is much more recon- 

 cilable with these facts than with the notion that they 

 are derived from small germs — more especially since no 

 one has ever seen or knows anything about the mode of 

 production of such germs in Closterium i. Of course we 

 are far from implying that Closteria are only produced 

 from Euglenae; since what is known concerning the 

 different modes of origin of other organisms might lead 

 us to expect that Closteria would also be derivable 

 from the transformation of other matrices, more or less 

 analogous to Euglen^e. 



Again, whilst the products of the third and subsequent 



-■ 



fissions of certain Euglenx occasionally become con- 

 verted^ in the manner described, into Diatoms, at other 

 times such products may be transformed into Pediastre^ 



6 



t> 



Micrasteri 



Concerning the first kind of transformation (/), Dr. Gros 



says : 



^ Lorsque Tutricule euglenien conservant scs 



^ See Pritchard's * Infusoria/ ^th Ed., p. 12. 



rt 





7 



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iitions 



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mi 



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come 



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