DISC. MULTICELLULAR INDIVIDUAL 47 



Individual is, of course, 128 gametes ; for the stages are 

 evanescent. 



It is interesting to draw the last figure in the form of a 

 main line or stem of cell " descent " with lateral branches, 

 and this without really mutilating it in any respect. The 

 significance of this will be evident when we come to con- 

 sider the main stem and lateral branching plan of certain 

 Individuals whose organic units are continuously multi- 

 cellular. 



Here we notice a progressive diminution in the inter- 

 mediate stage content of successive branches, whether 



I 



t,' V 



1 >N._. "* 





i i >\> . * 







« * 



\ 

 * 



* * 



ss £ ' F \ 



/l 



ALU 



* ,\ 



Fig. 5. — Another way of drawing Fig. 4. 



primary or secondary, and the content of any whole branch 

 system is always two times plus one that of its successor. 

 These points, though fairly obvious, are of great importance 

 in that in them there lies a key to some of the phenomena of 

 higher growth-cycles. In certain higher growth-types where 

 each intermediate cell in the above figure becomes represented 

 by a cell-multiple, and an arrested or non-evanescent one, 

 there is reason for believing that the above branching plan 

 holds true, and that in these cases the full theoretical 

 Individual's content (that is, of multicellular units) equals 

 2 to the Nth minus 1. 



