AND THE LOWER ANIMALS. 235 



the individuality is preserved. Consequently, in 

 passing through the caterpillar and chrysalis stages, 

 it is not the less the direct product of the germ con- 

 tained in the ovum, nor is it the less the immediate 

 offspring of its parents— just like the infant, which 

 was first an embryo and then a foetus. 



But when there occurs between the two forms of 

 reproduction such an essential relation as that the 

 first must always constitute the starting-point of the 

 second, this is no longer the case. The primitive 

 germ or ovum then acquires, as we have already 

 established, a very superior value to the secondary 

 germs which are derived from it. The parental 

 relations — those of father and mother to offspring — 

 can only exist among individuals which produce such 

 germs. 



What takes place in the case of the Aurelia, for 

 example ? 



From each ovum is developed a being which, at 

 first, is single, and devoid of reproductive organs, but 

 capable of producing spontaneously, and, as it were, 

 from its own special substance, a great number of 

 individuals. Bach of these, in its turn, divides into a 

 certain number of others, which acquire reproductive 

 organs, and produce and fertilize ova. These latter 

 are the only true offspring of the first parent; but 

 they are very numerous, and all have sprung from a 

 single ovum containing a solitary germ. 



Consequently, the unity and individuality of this 

 germ have been multiplied, that is to say, they have 

 been divided in the process of development. The 

 several aurelias proceeding from the single primitive 

 ovum are only the indirect product of the germ enclosed 



