CHAPTER VIII 



THE DISCONTINUOUSLY ZOOIDAL 

 INDIVIDUAL 



The class of Individual now to be considered is probably 

 the true successor to the Filamentous in the main road of 

 Continuity's evolution ; the sequence so far being Dis- 

 continuously Multicellular, Filamentous, Discontinuously 

 Zooidal. It is as if we started with many separate beads, 

 then united these in a single series, and next united many 

 single series together in lateral continuity to form separate 

 bead-masses on a given plan. Nature has not, of course, 

 actually worked with already formed cells or cell-series, but, 

 as will be shown elsewhere, has moulded the developing 

 product of the zygote, resulting from a sexual act, on a new 

 plan of Continuity. Thus, a zygote whose product would 

 have been many discontinuous cells was obliged to produce 

 this product in the form of a continuous filament, and a 

 zygote with potential filamentous development has been 

 obliged to have this realised as discontinuously zooidal 

 development, at different times in past ages. 



The free zooid is a true multiple of the free cell, and the 

 filament has been a necessary link between the two. In 

 the filament we have serial continuity of cells, in the zooid 

 we have lateral continuity of cell-series. In the next type 

 of Individual we shall see that we have the serial continuity 

 of zooids, and as we go farther on the regular alternation 

 of serial with lateral continuity will be clearly apparent. 

 Thus, to repeat, while the Discontinuously Multicellular 

 Individual is composed of separate, free cells, the Discon- 

 tinuously Zooidal is composed of separate, free organisms 

 made up of many cells closely united together. 



These organisms are in no sense cell-colonies, but possess 

 real tissue-continuity, and every cell performs a function 



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