38 



Life and Love. 



I 



V. 



FISH LIFE. 



N the ascidian and other low forms of life the 

 CE^gs and sperm-cells are dropped into the 

 water to float about and find 

 \ \ \ each other as best they may. 

 ^ 'jj The mysterious attraction of one 

 sex for the other is felt by these 

 atoms alone. The full-grown par- 

 ents from which they spring live 

 in cold indifference to this inter- 

 change of life ; they have noth- 

 ing to do with love, except the 

 supplying of these love-seeds, 

 that, moving about in the water, 

 seek each other. 



But higher in the scale of life, 

 where the two sexes are sepa- 

 rate, the attraction felt by egg- 

 cell and sperm-cell is reflected 

 in the parents themselves, and 

 there comes into existence that 

 powerful and subtle force known 

 as sex instinct. 



Darting about among the asci- 

 dians and the jelly-fishes, for 



