SYMBIOLOGY — THE BIOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS OF ORGANISMS 139 



each other; nor could the first contact have been co-incident with morpho- 

 logical and physiological adaptations. The very conception of symbiosis 

 impUes something secondary, and in a certain sense something abnormal. 

 The establishment of marked symbioses required long periods of time; 

 just when they began is impossible to determine. It is, no doubt, justi- 

 fiable to assume that a number of lowly organized organisms existed in a 

 natural state, manifesting no symbiotic phenomena, because competition 

 (for space) had not yet resulted from over-production. It may also be 

 assumed that symbiotic phenomena began to manifest themselves during 

 the earliest geologic ages. All the multitudinous phenomena of antagonis- 

 tic symbiosis, and of mutualistic symbiosis, represent highly specialized 

 biological conditions which were initiated by the first contact of morpho- 

 logically distinct organisms. This contact set up a new phase in the 

 environment. An unforseen struggle was the result, since it is reasonable 

 to assume that the primal contact relationships of contiguous organisms 

 was antagonistic rather than mutualistic. As already indicated, organ- 

 isms were not primarily adapted to form or enter into symbiotic relation- 

 ships, yet there is every reason to suppose that natural tendency must have 

 been to respond toward the contact organism as toward the environing sub- 

 strata. The living organism takes its nourishment and other essentials 

 for existence, from the environpient. The organism induces destructive 

 or katabolic changes in its environment, and the foreign organism with 

 which it was accidentally brought in contact, was simply a new bit in the 

 environment. This primal or incipient antagonism engendered by this 

 accidental contact of living organisms, being essentially mutualistically 

 antagonistic, as indicated, must have tended to drive the contiguous organ- 

 isms away from each other, which they were free to do, for as yet there were 

 no morphological adaptations by which one organism might attach itself 

 to another. Subsequently, the antagonism may have been increased or 

 even entirely modified, changing into mutuahsm or other highly complex 

 symbiotic associations. These changes are intimately bound up with the 

 questions of " struggle for existence," " survival of the fittest," " evolution," 

 "adaptive changes," etc., etc. We may cite the example of parasitic 

 fungi for the purpose of explaining the probable origin of antagonistic 

 symbiosis. Most fungi are, no doubt, derived from algae, as certain mor- 

 phological similarities would lead us to believe. Owing to lack of space, 

 or to over-productiveness, certain algae frequently came in contact with 

 more highly organized plants and animals, from which they absorbed 

 (by osmotic action) various organic food-substances, thereby reducing the 

 necessary activity of chlorophyllian assimilation. Co-incident with the 

 first contact and resultant change in function, there was a corresponding 

 change in structure. As the opportunities for the symbiotic association 



