5o6 



THE BEGINNIjS/GS OF LIFE. 



We have found that the former organisms may either be 

 produced by a kind of ascending development takin 





place in forms which were at first very small^ or that 

 they may com.e into being at once by the direct trans- 

 formation of vegetal matrices equal to themselves in 



bulk. 



It would^ therefore^ b 



altogether harmonious 



with previously established facts if we were to find that 

 similar laws applied to the origin of Rotifers — that is 

 to say^ if we found that they might not only arise by 

 m?ans of an ascending development through Actinophrys 

 and Ciliated Infusoria^ but that they might be directly 

 derived from masses of transforming vegetal matter of 

 the most various origin. 



So long ago as 1845 Dr. Gros observed the trans- 

 formation , of vesicles of the third order of Volvox 

 ghbatcr into a Rotifer belonging to the Philodinian 

 type ^ ; and he also called attention to the all-important 



^ See 'Bullet, de la Soc. Imp. de Naturalistes de Moscou/ 1845, 

 p. 383 (with figures). The masses which underwent transformation 

 seemed to correspond to the so-called ' winter-spores' of Volvox, as 

 described by Mr. Busk ("Trans, of the Microscop. Soc' 1853, p. 3B). 

 And according to Pritchard (p. 446) another Rotifer {Notommafa parasitu^) 

 is occasionally found within the hollow sphei'es of Volvox glohator. But 

 it is almost impossible that a Rotifer produced from a large ' egg* could 

 be found in such a situation, unless the * egg' had been produced by hetero- 

 genesis. Dr. Braxton Hicks has, moreover, actually seen {Appendix D, 

 p. Ixxxvii.) some of the elements of the Volvox converted into large 

 Amceb^. So that these, as well as the so-called ' winter-spores,' might 

 subsequently be converted into heterogenetic ' eggs.' Again, a Rotifer has 

 been found by Rceper within the cells of the aerial leaves of Sphagninn 

 ohtmifolium^ whilst Morren has also found specimens of Rotifer vulgaris 



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ai 



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 tk internal 



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ovaiaire (P 



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 iated bv 1 

 I'K contained, 

 wminced me 



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 "ithin them ? 



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 *s that a f, 



^''■^ents of . 



»»i slugs, 

 \ ^«« loc. , 



