' ^'fi. 



ailed 1. ^''t 



^^^nu 



i 



ih to bel 



L^on of th 





na. 



.T, 



e 



of 



rian, another i-l 

 may then c' 



I'e 



rejecting otbiJ 



e i ncompreheni 



s set forth in 



^f 



e more readily t 



ong known-C":. 

 V more easi' 

 .fly glance at a "'^ 



e 



than on 



e oc0i' 



views a 



1 Q^^"^'\i 



J hi*' ' 



,sion of ^^^ ,1 



I 



;in 



cr 



for 



these r 



I 



j:^^ beginnings of life. 



535 



fnena. But a much more marked discrepancy between 

 facts and generally received theories exists in refe- 

 rence to other phenomena. Thus, when speaking of 

 Rotifers, Pritchard says, in his 'Infusoria' (p. 6^fy\ 

 'One remarkable circumstance must be borne in 

 mind by the animalcule hunter. If he happens to 



remember a pond where some rare species abounded 

 last year, let him not again turn thither in search 



the chances will not be in his favour. 



of it, as 



These creatures rarely exist in the same water during 



two successive years 



The reasons for this are not 



easily ascertainable. The remark is equally applicable 

 to Volvox and the Desmidise. The search will be most 



^ \ 



productive if prosecuted on new ground.' 



Now 



variability in the habitat of the rarer kinds of Infusoria, 

 incompatible as it is with received notions concerning 



xpected that ot; c winter-eggs ' and ' resting-spores,' is thoroughly har- 



monious with all that we have said concerning the 

 life-history of many of these forms and the extreme 

 variability at different times in the products of hetero- 

 genetic transformation— peculiarities which were long 

 ago dwelt upon by Dr. Gros. 



Again^ the extreme prevalence and almost universal 

 distribution of certain common forms of Rotifers, Tar- 

 digrades^and Nematoids^^will become quite inexplicable 

 to those who disbelieve in the occurrence of hetero- 

 genetic transformations— in the face of our present 



w 



^ Each of these three forms of life having the peciiliarity that they 

 multiply their kind by notably large gemmae or eggs. 



