THE BEGINNINGS OP LIFE. 



569 



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^P^cies',!! 



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■^'y vegetal, 



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, and oi; 



Jhue^manyoft' 



■^r of indcpeii-' 



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•ing themsek 

 entirely new feir: 



as we meet wit 



deration. 



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;ion w 



hich we 



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' art f 



net ^species 

 ktofonlyonesfi- 



:uch asseni 



fpaii^ 



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exist till « '} 



ttai 

 :he 



meaning 



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of the 



wor(i 



seo 



fthe 



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be conceded to the representatives of those vast multi- 

 tudes of infusorial and cryptogamic forms which col- 



r 



lectively constitute an ever-changing vital plexus, from 

 the various portions of which well-marked animals and 

 plants are constantly arising. Biological individuals, 

 in fact, exist which multiply prodigiously by agamic 

 processes long before a sexual mode of reproduction 

 begins to manifest itself, and therefore long before 

 ^ true generative acts ' are performed, and before 

 •^ species^ begin to exist. 



So that instead of considering the total product of 

 any one fecundated germ as a single individual (even 

 when it comprises what others would call hundreds 

 of individuals), an alteration in our conception of the 



; many of the eafe^ word ^species' — which is now actually necessitated 



sented by a 



suffices to clear 



away 



all the old difficulties. 



We 



may quite easily recognize 



that, just 



as individuals 



aggregated, 



so 



are either simple, or complex and 

 ^species' may be represented either by definitely re- 

 curring series of different individuals, derived one from 



—though the last of the 



are produced, constituting the first 



another by agamic processes 



series develops rudimentary sexual organs in which 



fertilized germs 



r 



terms of the new series ; or else by single (hermaphro- 

 dite) or by double (male and female) recurring indi- 

 viduals, each of the representatives of which undergoes 

 a more or less metamorphic process of development. 



The views which we have hitherto announced also 



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